An Alternate Start and a Darker Hero (NERO)
by RWBYBlackFlames
Summary: <html><head></head>What if Jaune was orphaned at birth and his village was lost at 9? What if Ozpin was requested to take Jaune in? What if he accepted? Read as a darker and stronger Jaune Arc forges his path in Beacon, led by the book of his heritage and taught by Ozpin. Drop a review, hope you enjoy it. Dark (not evil) Jaune x Weiss [it'll be fun to write]. Pre 16 YARN, 16 BlackFlames</html>
1. Welcome to AASAADH

[{IMPORTANT}]

Good evening, I am **RWBYBlackFlames**, with An Alternate Start and A Darker Hero (NERO) Now, this is quite an anomaly. Isn't this weird. Y.A.R.N. has already posted the same thing.

I can already here you PMing me as you read:

"Why did you steal this from Y.A.R.N.?"

"How did you get this story?"

"Don't steal from him you jerk!"

Don't worry, I have talked to Y.A.R.N. about this already. We have talked, and as he couldn't continue the story, which is beautiful, you should check out his works, and due to unforseen circumstances, he has lost all the progress on A.A.S.A.A.D.H. Due to this, he himself decided to put it up for adoption, or hiatus, read it yourself if you so wish, and seeing that I had loved the story, I asked him if it was possible for me to continue his story for him.

Now, that that's out of the way, time for a little bit of information that needs to be said. I did not write Chapters 1-15. This was all Y.A.R.N. Now, anything after that, unless I specifically say so, is what I am writing. Also, if Y.A.R.N. decides to continue his story, and wishes to continue from what I've written, I will hand the reigns over to him. It is his story at the end of the day, I'm just babysitting it until he wishes to take it back, if he does. Also, he may choose to stay at 15, where he left off and continue, ignoring what I've written. That is perfectly reasonable, as I don't mind having to different versions of the story up in the air.

Finally, we are at an end for the first announcement of this story. I hope that you don't mind me writing this, and hopefully we can get along well. My first chapter will be uploaded Friday, as I have a busy week, so if you want something new, wait until then.

Until next time, Black Flames out!


	2. Chapter 1

Hey everyone here is another fic, I hope I can get some review on whether or not to continue it.

Love it? Hate it? Leave a review!

Y.A.R.N.

Rain.

The endless pounding of the rain against his back.

It burned. The very cold and harsh fall of it burned him. It burned like the fires of the building of his old village. Grimm and humans all lay around, making the ground lumpy. He got up and began to numbly walk, ignoring the claw marks on his face and gash across his chest and up his neck, ignoring he was still gripping a sword and shield. He tripped over something and saw it was a leg. A severed leg. He whimpered quietly and walked towards his old home.

He hadn't noticed his body glowing with a soft white light, and feeling himself heal.

Fire.

He ignored that his orphanage on fire and pushed the creaky door open.

They were all dead.

Everyone.

Except him.

The old nanny…

Dead.

His playmates…

Dead.

The enemy…

Dead.

His villagers…

Dead.

Himself…

Alive?

Why?

WHY?!

Blood soaked hands trembled as he began to realize he was alone. He began to shake, unable to hold his weapons as they shook. The sword and shield clattered to the soaked earth. His hands shakily lifted in front of his eyes. A disgusting red stained them. HE began to gasp and hyperventilate. Oh Lord in heaven, he was still alive…

He didn't want to be the one to be saved. He was too young, HE WAS BARELY 9. Others had lives, wives, kids, families. He didn't have that, he was an orphan. Picked up to fight because he was a child with a good arm. He didn't have anyone to survive for, so why? WHY HIM?  
>Then he began to scream.<p>

And scream.

And scream.

They were all dead.

Except him.

That's how the army found him. On his knees in the burning building, bleeding, staring at the sky. Gasping out small screams, inaudible to the world. They tried to rouse him, but he wouldn't respond other than a single sentence.

"Let me sleep too, I don't want to be alone…"

Jaune woke up gasping. A sweaty hand pressed against his forehead. He let out a choked whimper and buried his head in his arms. He was okay. It was the past he was older now. He was 14, he didn't need to think about that. He buried his head in his arms and pushed back the burning in his eyes. He wouldn't remember. Despite his chant he was able to think about what happened right after.

The silver-haired man with the cane pulled a blanket around his shoulders and simply placed a hand on his shoulder. Jaune didn't move, at least he didn't think he did, but somehow he toppled into the man's side like someone shoved him. The man looked at him and rubbed his back.

Something in the gesture…the warmth of the hand, the gentle calming it pushed on him, made him start to sob.

"Shhhh…Shh…cry, it's okay to cry. Let it go…" the man said.

Jaune didn't know how long it had taken for his sobs to become soft quiet gasps. He was tired. He wanted some milk and his bed. He wanted the nanny to come in and whisper good night and give all the kids a special good knight kiss on the cheek, all their own. The man rubbing his back ran a gentle hand through his hair. He sighed at the sensation and fell asleep.

When he woke up the sun was streaming in through the windows. Jaune sighed and rolled over. The nanny could wake him up a bit later, besides he had a terrible nightmare. He wanted a little more time. The he realized something was beeping, a slow rhythmic beep. He squished his eyes shut a bit more, did they get an alarm clock?

Jaune sighed and rubbed his cheek, why did he have a bandage on? Had he fallen?

He got up and saw himself in a mirror.

He was dressed in shorts and a hospital dress. He had an angry red scar on his neck and face, not to mention he had an IV in his arm. Wire were attached to his chest and he was a lot skinnier. His hair was wild and had grown out to be shoulder length. He had grown a lot taller. What the heck happened? Where was he?

Right then the door slid open and he saw the man from his nightmare, looking at him with wide eyes.

His nightmare. That means…

That wasn't a nightmare. That was real. THIS IS REAL.

The floor rushed up to meet him very suddenly.

Jaune got up and slapped himself, really hard. The loud sound echoed around like he was in a cave. He began to shuffle out of his bed.

Enough nightmares. He was about to rub the blurriness of sleep from his eyes when a sound caught his attention.

Just then his door creaked open and Ozpin walked in. He took one glance and Jaune and knelt down.

"You had a nightmare." Ozpin said, wrapping his arms around Jaune in a hug.

"I did?" Jaune said.

He looked in the mirror and saw tears trickling down his expressionless face.

That explained the blurriness.

"Oh sorry, Dad." He murmured.

Ozpin had decided to adopt him, 9 or 10. One year wouldn't make too much of a difference to Ozpin. The nightmares had been happening a lot, much more than what would be healthy for Jaune. But no matter what happened, even on sleep medication - which one doctor had tried - nightmares would creep into Jaune's mindscape and tear him inside a little more.

"You don't need to apologize." Ozpin said softly.

"Why can't it stop? I want it to stop, I try not to think about it, but it keeps coming back to me." He murmured miserably.

"Something like that Jaune… it might never go away. You have to make yourself strong so the pain becomes bearable."

"Oh…"

Ozpin sighed as he got up, "Come on, it's your first day of school. You need to get dressed."

"Yes, Dad."

Ozpin walked down the hall of the small house he had bought for Jaune. It was a bit difficult working away from beacon but somehow adopting Jaune had made it worth it. For all the brave fronts and attempts to smile though, Jaune was not okay. Four years since a relative of his old teammate had called the police from his village to help. Ozpin was called to help lead, since he had been there a few times. He never expected a quiet town like that to suddenly be attacked by Grimm. That was the reason John had settled there with his wife.

They had a son, but the wife died of child birth. Ozpin rushed over and saw the blonde boy laying in his crib, staring at everything with eyes a hue of blue that made the sky and ocean jealous of their purity. John was dying, no one had any physical reason, but they all knew it was a broken heart killing him.

"My son's name is Jaune…" the blond man had said.

"Really, a little narcissistic, don't you think?" Ozpin said, vainly trying to thin the tension.

"I wanted to ask you to be his godfather." John said, his grey eyes gleaming with determination.

"I have a school to lead, John, besides, you'll be fine! This boy needs his father and I can-"

"Please."

Ozpin's throat closed up.

"Please. I can't live without her, the only reason I am hanging on is him. He is all I have left of her." He pleaded, "I won't be long before I go too. I need you to watch him. Take him in, teach him. I know I have no right, but you are my best friend Ozpin… my own family doesn't want him." He spat.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed at this, their own flesh and blood would be alone, and they wouldn't help him? Disgusting.

"You don't need to take him in right now, when he is 10…then do it. Give him this." John gestured to a large bag in the corner of the room, "It has everything he will need. I want you to tell him I am sorry…"

John's breath hitched and he fought back tears as he looked at his innocent and young son, "Oh Lord, Ozpin, why can't I live for him? He needs me, I can't do this to him!"

Ozpin watched as one of his oldest and toughest friends broke down and wept. Ozpin had his friend transferred to a hospital, but nothing could be done.

He died a week later.

Ozpin had attended his funeral alone except for a single baby boy, who seemed to stare at him with those solemn blue eyes.

"Ohgahbababa." Jaune mumbled in baby talk.

Ozpin didn't have it in him to respond.

Ozpin sighed, Jaune had fully grasped what the situation had meant and at all times had a locket of his parents hung around his neck. He never talked about it, and most of the time he didn't speak at all. He had such a dead look in his eyes that at times Ozpin wanted to scream. He was failing Jaune and John. Jaune had seen child specialists, and they had all said the same thing. The boy was beyond help, he had shut off his emotions. Only something big could help him.

Social Interaction it was.

Jaune came down the stairs in jeans and a t-shirt, and Ozpin saw so much of john in him that he would wonder whether someone was trying to make him feel like a terrible person. Those ocean blue eyes seemed to be the only thing keeping him from looking just like John. Jaune had a special interest in weapons and vowed he would kill all the Grimm he came across. It wasn't long after he got his father's bag that Ozpin saw him practice with the sword and shield that John had left him. Ozpin helped him and was fairly certain he was already a top swordsman, but that paled in comparison to his natural affinity to his family's shield.

He had fought Ozpin when he decided to fight with the shield. He rolled and danced, moving around with an inhuman grace. He blocked and when Ozpin had finally tired him out, he would sit quietly down for a minute and get up again. His shield would definitely be his greatest asset. His father had left him a book on how to use it and his sword, as well as the qualities his shield had possessed.

Jaune had a pure white aura, tinged with the barest hit of dark blue. His soul was good, almost all good. He would never be able to have tapped into it unless he hadn't tapped into his aura unconsciously as a child due to the trauma of his past. He used it in his shield, and his shield would grow into a massive gauntlet and other weapons, halberds, swords, spears, practically anything. Ozpin knew that he would

become a great hunter, no matter what.

"It's time to go, dad."

Jaune stared at the school for a moment. Ozpin nodded at him and Jaune walked inside, sword and shield strapped to his back and an over-the-shoulder bag already on. He saw several people look at him as he approached the office.

"Is that the kid Ozpin took in?"

"Yeah, I think so. They say something happened to him and now he doesn't like to talk to other people."

"Do you see those scars on his face and neck? What did that to him?"

"Why the heck is he carrying a sword and shield?"

"Lucky guy, Ozpin must be pampering him…"

Jaune almost chuckled at that but kept walking.

The teachers were sizing up the students and trying to gauge where they would be.

"Okay kids who here uses a sword?"

Jaune raised his hand, much to everyone's amusement, they were also considered an older type of weapon.

"Okay and how about spears?"

Jaune kept his hand raised and several people also raised their hands too.

"Um Jaune?"

"Yes?" he said, everybody looked at him.

"Don't you use a sword?"

"Yeah…what's your point?"

"Well most people only specialize in one type of weapon." The teacher said.

"I am not stupid enough to think that's what's most convenient will be on hand, besides, some weapons will be better suited for fighting a certain type of enemies than others." Jaune responded calmly, "I admit I am most comfortable with a sword, but I am able to use several other weapons with plenty of versatility."

The teacher blinked before shrugging, "Don't let it go to your head Jaune."

He frowned, "I wish I had that luxury…"

Jaune held a wooden sword and took his stance across from a boy wielding a wooden halberd. Jaune calmly waited for the other boy to make the first move. He sidled and began to maneuver around Jaune. Jaune turned slowly, and without warning the boy charged. Jaune blocked the sloppy overhead swing with a lough 'CLACK'. The boy saw Jaune was only using one hand to block the attack.

"I suppose training with dad all those times really paid off." Jaune said absentmindedly.

The boy twisted and swung another time, Jaune ducked under the wide swing and stepped in before the boy had a chance to recover. He calmly grabbed the boy's wrist and yanked him out of his stance, making him stumble forward. He hit his sword over the boy's arm, making his arm go numb. He dropped his weapon and fell grasping his now numb arm.

"Hey! My arm fell asleep!" he grumbled.

"So I win." Jaune said, pressing his wooden sword against his opponent's forehead with a teasing smirk.

It had been a week since his first day.

Jaune was leaning against the fence during lunch break when a ball rolled over to him. He saw a Faunus kid run over to get it, and stop when he saw Jaune pick it up. He looked down. Jaune walked over and tapped his shoulder. The kid looked up and saw Jaune holding out the ball.

"You dropped this." Jaune said.

"Oh…Thank you! I didn't think you would give it back…" the boy said, Jaune noticed he had cat ears that flattened against his skull in embarrassment.

"Why not?"

"People don't really like faunus."

"Then they are idiots." Jaune responded shrugging.

"W-wha..?" The boy replied flabbergasted.

Jaune smiled, it felt…nice, "I think faunus are pretty cool. You have night-vision and a whole bunch of other stuff, if anything people should be jealous."

The boy blinked and grinned, "You want to participate in some sports with me and my friends? We need another player. My name's Tucker!"

Jaune blinked, he was feeling…happy. He nodded and the boy dragged him over to the field, "By the way my name is Jaune."

Ozpin smiled when he saw, for the first time in four years, Jaune was smiling. Ozpin had planned to check on Jaune to see if social interaction would help him. Ozpin was beyond pleased to see how much. Jaune kicked the ball and the other teens scrambled after it. Ozpin took a sip of the coffee he just bought.

"He finally started healing."

[Three Years Later]

He finished his application to Beacon and slid it in the application box, the teacher had signed it and Ozpin himself had given the stamp of acceptance. Jaune head rested on his forearms as he stared out the window, completely bored. He absent mindedly twirled a pencil in his hand and gently sang under his breath.

"Okay this is your final class with me…I wanted to say that it was a pleasure teaching all of you, and I wish you good luck in whatever goal you wish to pursue from here on in." The teacher said.

A bird landed on the window and cocked its head at Jaune's bored expression. The kids started to pack up and say their goodbyes. Jaune got up and rolled his shoulders and he threw some books in his bag. He was about to go when Velvet and Tucker walked up.

"So you both also applied to Beacon right?" Jaune asked as he slung his bag on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll definitely get in!" Tucker cheered as they made their way to the stairs.

Jaune began to walk down when he saw Ozpin waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Jaune sighed and slid down the railing.

"You shouldn't do that." Ozpin reprimanded gently, though Jaune knew he was quietly amused.

"I know but you always complain that I don't walk down fast enough, so I chose a quicker and easier option." He said resting his hands behind his head.

Ozpin chuckled as he ruffled Jaune's hair, "This is exactly why you fail the physical course. You never listen to what they say and do whatever's quickest."

"Heh," Jaune grinned, "It's not my fault they aren't open to alternatives."

Jaune groaned in misery.

Stupid motion sickness.

Stupid dustplane.

Stupid school being so far away.

Jaune closed his eyes and leaned against the seat he was sitting on and gripped the cold metal tightly. The chills seemed to help him steady his heaving stomach. He pulled back his hood slightly, pressed his forehead against the cold metal, and breathed in deep even breaths, just like dad had taught him. When he felt like he wasn't going to hurl up his insides he opened his eyes and stared at the school his dad ran.

Jaune was leaning against the glass and stared at the massive academy. They really didn't do it justice with the photo on the brochure. Jaune slung his pack over his shoulder and made his way to the doors and he passed by two girls; one had black hair with red ends and a red cloak with a long haired…well-endowed blond. He walked past them while the girls talked about bee's knees, which in his opinion wasn't really a normal conversational topic. Just then Glynda Goodwitch appeared on the screens and began to tell the students about Beacon.

Jaune smiled, he had met with Glynda on a few occasions, she was a bit uptight but overall a good person, and not to mention she taught him a lot about dust and its applications when he was younger. He grinned just before he felt his stomach heave, and he fell to his knees retching. His hood slid of his head but he was in too much pain to notice. He used his hood to keep people from seeing his face, he didn't want to show his scars.

"Gack! Dammit! Ugh… Stupid motion sickness…" he choked out, cringing.

"You okay?" said a small voice.

He turned his head and saw the red and black haired girl leaning over him with worry on her face. The expression changed to shock when she saw his scars, he looked away and pulled his hood down.

"Sorry." He murmured and quickly went towards the back of the dustplane.

"Wait!" she called.

He didn't stop and pushed into the throng of people gathering in the exits. He pulled his hood a bit lower and waited. His stomach was in knots for a completely different reason now. He knew people would react like that, then they would either try not to stare or just stare. He hated it. He hated it a lot. He hated his scars.

He brushed past a boy with dark hair and fuchsia eyes, a black haired girl with a bow, a orange-haired hulking guy with a mace. He quickly made his way to the back of the crowd and leaned against the wall. The ship had stopped and docked, but Jaune was still feeling queasy and weak. He slid down against the wall breathing like he had run for miles without using his aura.

A hand patted his shoulder. He looked up and saw a Velvet lightly tapping his shoulder, Tucker leaned over him, concerned.

"Your scars?"

Jaune nodded mutely.

"Come on, Jaune, everyone will look at first, it's only natural. Don't worry, I am sure you don't want ot be late." He said lifting Jaune to his feet.

"Yeah… Lets go." Jaune said.

With that the trio walked off the ship towards the academy.


	3. Chapter 2

Second Chapter is finally up people.

Here ya go!

Jaune felt that stepping out into the sunlight felt really nice as well as breathing the fresh air for the first time in what seemed like hours. He checked to make sure he had his automatic pistols tucked into his holsters and shield and sword. Okay all his weapons were there, and nothing was amiss, he even had his black oversword sheathe (his own design) and dust capsules. Jaune cracked his neck from side to side, trying to get rid of the various kinks that had begun to plague him halfway through the ride.

Curled up in a fetal position from motion sickness takes its toll on any sane and normal person's neck.

Tucker chattered about how cool it would be to be a fully licensed hunter and go around killing monsters. Velvet nodded, she was painfully aware of the danger, but even she could appreciate the excitement of being a hunter. Jaune didn't voice his opinion that he didn't want to fight, he would have wanted something peaceful, but he had vowed to kill all the Grimm he could. Besides, Tucker happiness was more important that facing reality at the moment, and Jaune knew it wouldn't last, usually good things never do.

That, and Ms. Goodwitch would definitely kill that attitude within three seconds of her meeting him.

Jaune noticed the red haired girl being abandoned by her well-endowed blond friend, who dashed off with her friends. Red (as Jaune deemed her until her name was known) was staggering back and crashed into some luggage in her daze. Jaune sighed and began walking towards her, he might as well do his good act for the day. Then he heard the shouting and looked again. Red happened to be apologizing to a white-haired girl in a dress. She had apparently collapsed into the white-haired girl's luggage, which had opened up a case of dust with vials.

Which the white haired girl was brandishing a vial of angrily.

Which was spreading red dust into the air.

And Red looked like she was about to sneeze.

Jaune knew this wasn't going to end well.

Lo and behold, he was right. To his amazement the dust filled air exploded with sparks of lightning and even slight flashes of ice when Red sneezed (sneezes that ignite dust, that's... different). The girl tried to apologize but the white haired girl -now covered in soot and dirt- was screaming over her in frustration. Jaune began to walk forward again (after waving his friends on), only to be beaten to the punch by a black haired girl with a bow. She said something to the white haired girl -now identified as Weiss Schnee- about the Schnee Company, which made her storm off angrily. The black haired girl left just as quickly and the red caped girl sat in the crater of the explosion, looking miserable.

Jaune sighed before smiling slightly and extending his hand. The girl looked up and Jaune got ready for the look of shock but instead she simply grabbed his hand and let herself get hauled to her feet.

"Hey." He said.

"Thanks." She said brightly.

"It's nothing, just saw that you needed help." Jaune replied.

"I'm sorry about the dustplane." She said quickly, eyes squeezed shut as if I would snap at her.

"It's not your fault...um..." Jaune sighed.

Way to sound awkward, Author: Jaune Arc.

"Ruby. My names Ruby Rose." She said.

"Oh, well I am Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you Ruby." He finished somewhat lamely.

"Likewise." She replied grinning.

Ozpin had told him about Ruby in passing mentioning that she was definitely someone interesting. Jaune had chalked it up to his dad's strange tastes, but he could see Ruby was interesting though for perhaps slightly different reasons.

Ruby was surprisingly chatty, and had a pretty badass weapon to boot. Customizable sniper rifle and big scythe? Badass. When Jaune flipped his hood back and showed his face she did the merest of double takes before commenting that, "Your eyes are like the color of the ocean!"

That's a first for Jaune, no one ever really complimented him, though that may have been because he always tried to keep his hood up. He shook his hair out to shade his eyes and mumbled a small thanks. Eventually after Ruby introduced him to Crescent Rose the talk went to weapons. Ruby wanted to know what Jaune wielded, so he brought out his sword and shield, pistols, and dust capsules.

"Bit basic, but they have loads of special features." Jaune said waving his sword in a few complex flourishes and finishing with a bow, "Specially my shield."

"Cool, classics are pretty nice, not many people appreciate them anymore. What about that black sword on your back?" She inquired.

"Oh that? Well it carries dust from the capsules which I can use entirely on its own or to add extra 'oomph' to my normal sword. You know, a bit of elemental butt kick. It attaches to my sword as an attachment or I can sheathe my sword in that if I want to free my hand for my gun a bit faster. It's not too complicated or really different but it fits me." Jaune said firmly.

"I think that's the most important part!" Ruby said, then she looked around at the deserted surroundings, "Anyway, shouldn't we be headed to the hall? I think we aren't even on the right path…"

"Ah dammit! You're right, I am so gonna be late! Dad's gonna kill me!" Jaune panicked and began to sprint down the path. Thank dust he memorized the map.

"Ah wait for me!" Ruby yelled, sprinting after him.

Jaune skidded into the hall -out of breath- with Ruby panting behind him. He flipped up his hood before anyone could see him without it.

Turning to Ruby he held out a fist and smirked, "I see my friends over there, see you around, alright?"

She nodded and fist bumped him, "See you later, Jaune!"

Right then the well-endowed blonde waved excitedly, "Hey Ruby! I saved you a seat!"

Jaune smiled, "You'd better not keep your friend waiting."

Ruby grinned and jogged towards her, "She is actually my sister! Her name is Yang!"

Jaune blinked, they didn't even look all that alike, probably half-sisters. He spotted Tucker and Velvet waiting for him, he jogged over.

"Sorry guys, got caught up with a new friend. Hope you don't mind."

Tucker grabbed him in a headlock, "Naw man, don't sweat it- agh!"

That last bit was because Jaune extracted himself and proceeded to flip Tucker instinctively onto the ground, which was hard marble.

"Oh, sorry man, you know it's a reflex at this point. But in all honesty, you had that coming." Jaune said restraining his laughter.

"I know..." He groaned, "You never take it easy, do you?"

"Can you fault me?" Jaune asked as he held out his hand.

Tucker shook his head and got up with a bit of help. Velvet slapped them both lightly on the shoulder as Ozpin walked on the platform. He scanned the crowd and blinked once at meeting Jaune's eyes, and continued to let his eyes drift over the crowd.

"I'll keep this brief." Ozpin said into a microphone, adjusting his glasses quietly, he continued, "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills-and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose-direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, for Ozpin that was pretty eloquent and deep.

Oh fantastic, they were all sleeping in the hall. Jaune drew a line, and if it meant staying up fine!

He really didn't want to take off his hood. He had already changed into some loose drawstring pants and quickly ducked behind a pillar to take off his armor and stuff them in his locker earlier, so that was good. Weapons stored. Also good.

Now the bad.

Jaune cannot sleep unless he is shirtless which entails showing his scars, or he feels like the old cuts and wounds are itching and burning against whatever fabric he may be wearing (covers or blankets do not count). Everyone was together, so he would have waited until everyone had fallen asleep, then slip into his sleeping bag. He had talked to Ozpin about it, but Ozpin said he had to give everyone equal lodgings and opportunity. Jaune was in a checkmate, he didn't know what to do. He leaned against the wall and slumped tiredly. He wanted to sleep so much too…

His eyelids were fighting to stay open as he leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes with a low groan and tried to be comfortable. Right then a force knocked into his side and sent him sprawling. He looked to see Ruby backing away from a fighting and arguing Weiss and Yang while Blake was closing her book.

"Great…" he mumbled and got up, dammit, screw the rules.

Ruby turned and tried to say sorry, but Jaune tiredly waved her off with a quiet, "Its fine." He took his sleeping bag/mat and walked out of the hall. He climbed the stairs until he was just next to the door that led to the roof and threw his mat on the floor. He pulled off his jacket and shirt and flopped down on the mat. Consequences for being caught away from the group be damned, he didn't care to be around anyone else, besides Ozpin knew he would be here if he looked.

"That's better…" He sighed as sleep finally overcame him.

Jaune stumbled down the steps after packing and hastily throwing on his jacket and folding up his mat. He went to the bathrooms and washed up, brushed his teeth, and dressing in his signature black hoodie with gold and orange trimming and slightly scratchy jeans. He flipped the hood up right and readjusted his belt and pistols (he kept those on his person at all times).

"Okay Jaune...Day one, initiation." He murmured in an undertone.

As he made his way to the cafeteria, he heard the cafeteria before he could even smell the food, all the first years were talking about the initiation and making teams, while all the other upperclassmen were placing bets on who would win. He walked in and several people looked at him before chatting about his abilities and wondering whether or not he would get in.

Jaune took some pancakes and syrup and took a seat. He wasn't nervous about the fighting, but he was thinking about the partners, which Ozpin had told him about. He didn't say how, but said that Jaune would have to get used to having friends. Jaune wasn't opposed to the idea but he wasn't sure how he would explain all his strange habits. He just hoped that they were understanding.

Jaune mused over who his partner would be as he took a bite of pancake doused in a very liberal amount of syrup and sugar.

'Damn, these are some great pancakes' Jaune thought as he took another bite.

Jaune silently slid into the locker room and walked over to locker 636 and began strapping on his swords and shielth. He put on his greaves and arm-guards after slipping his metal chest-plate on. He noticed Ruby talking to her sister Yang and smiled as he heard Ruby excitedly describe her darling doing the talking for her. He turned to leave but his shoulder accidentally bumped into Weiss, who had been walking towards an amazon-like warrior with long red hair.

"Agh!" She cried as Jaune almost knocked her down.

Jaune caught her shoulder before she could hit the floor, "Ah, whoops. Sorry 'bout that, didn't see you there."

"You could at least watch where you are going!" She hissed.

He raised an eyebrow, it was too early in the day for this kind of attitude, "Okay... and yeah, you're welcome."

"What are you talking about?" She snapped

Jaune snickered as he responded with a jibe, "Nothing princess, just responding in kind to your attitude, which in my opinion could use a definite dose of nice. Oh, and if you mean for the welcome, it was for keeping you for landing on you back."

"Ugh, just get out of my way." Weiss growled as she tried to move around Jaune.

"Say please, princess." Jaune said grinning.

The amazon-like warrior giggled after listening to our exchange, a hand pressed against her mouth.

Weiss grumbled angrily but choked out, "Would you ... PLEASE move?"

"No need to say it like it's giving you heartburn, princess." Jaune replied snarkily as he stepped aside, "Well either that or drinking poison."

"Hmph!" she scoffed as she moved past Jaune toward the amazon.

Jaune walked away to see Ruby trying to stifle her laughter and Yang grinning.

"Heyo, Ruby, Yang." Jaune said, nodding at them in greeting.

"Hey Jaune. You sleep okay? Sorry about-"Ruby began.

"Ruby, it's fine, but let's please not start a habit of you having to apologize to me in every other interaction we have, that'll be odd." Jaune said, patting her head.

She swiped at his hand with an irritated and embarrassed expression, "Shut up."

"See? Better already!" he joked.

"Hey there, Jaune. I am Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's awesome older sister." Yang said offering her hand.

He shook it and said, "A bit narcissistic don't you think?"

She shrugged before cheekily saying, "Eh, what can you do?"

"Not be narcissistic?" Jaune offered.

"Easier said than done for her…" Ruby muttered as she trailed off.

"What was that, little sis?" Yang asked a bit of yellow light beginning to outline her figure as she cracked her knuckles threateningly.

"N-nothing!" Ruby quickly said, waving her hands in a surrendering gesture.

Jaune pressed a hand to his mouth to keep himself from laughing, just then he turned away to see Weiss…posing?

Behind the amazon-like warrior with red hair while the amazon was looking in the other direction.

The faces Weiss was making weren't exactly…normal. Or sane.

Jaune could have sworn he saw ethereal fire expanding behind her with each pose.

Regardless, Jaune stepped away from Ruby –who was beginning to sweat- and Yang –who was glaring at her adoptive sister- towards the pair.

He may or may not have left his locker unlocked, and he wanted to make sure that it was locked. As he walked by Weiss glared and he stopped with a sigh. He decided why start out on the wrong foot? Might as well be cordial and polite with everyone.

"Look, Weiss. If you have a problem with me, I guess I can chalk it up to me kinda being an ass just now. But seriously, let's not try to drag this antagonism any longer than it must be so I'll be first to say I'm sorry." I held out my hand, "Hi, my name is Jaune Arc, and I am sorry for annoying you earlier."

Weiss blinked, the glare on her face softened slightly before disappearing completely, she sighed, "Fine I accept your apology…and I guess I am…sorry too…I have had a vaguely stressful morning."

She took his hand and shook it once.

"Why?" Jaune was honestly curious.

"I guess I am worried about partners…I really don't want that girl or her sister." Weiss muttered darkly in an undertone.

Jaune frowned as he checked his locker and saw it was indeed locked, "I know you two didn't meet under the best of circumstances, but Ruby is seriously skilled and pretty bright, a bit crazy but in a good way. Dad told me about her when I was packing for the ride to Beacon."

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "How would your dad know about Ruby's skill level? Why would he tell you anyway?"

Jaune sweatdropped as he fumbled for a suitable response, "Oh well … um, look at the time! I have got to go!"

Jaune kept his head down, pulled his hood down, and practically ran out of the locker room.

Jaune was excited, he hadn't had any really good challenges in a while, and he knew he could take on any monster the emerald forest had to offer with his arsenal. His last fight had been against some of the instructors in his academy, and thanks to Ozpin whooping his can every time Jaune had asked for a spar, he felt like he was being attacked by glaciers. Slow, inching along until they (FINALLY) made contact with their target.

Jaune had a wide grin on his face, being a combat junkie had a few perks, adrenaline in battle never got old.

He ran up to the hill to see Ozpin standing and looking over the forest with a distant expression. Jaune noticed, with some amusement, that he had his coffee cup filled with the steaming liquid. Jaune didn't even try to stay silent, knowing his dad's reverie was way too deep to immediately be broken out of. It took a minute, but Ozpin blinked and brought his mug up to his mouth for a gulp of coffee.

"Well Jaune…here you are. You think you are ready to take the first step?"

"I think I am ready, I think I have been for quite some time dad. Do you think I am?"

"Would it change what you were about to do if I said no."

"Yes."

Ozpin turned to look at him with raised eyebrows, "It would?"

Jaune sighed, "I would be devastated but you are my dad, I know you want what's best for me, if you think I am not ready, I'll listen."

Ozpin looked towards the forest, a small smile on his lips, "I expect my son to get nothing less than perfect in every class you know."

Jaune grinned, and decided to mess around a bit, "You know I never make promises, and you might have to settle for a low 90% or high 80%...even a low 7-"

"Jaune, don't even dare finish that sentence." Ozpin voice was firm, yet amused.

"You take the fun out of everything." Jaune complained lightly.

They both shared a quiet laugh.


	4. Chapter 3

Hey guys Chapter 3 is out, hope you like it.

Everything belongs to Monty, except the story idea.

Jaune didn't have to wait long for the rest of the hopefuls to arrive, even so, waiting for them felt like a long, long time. He took the pad that was closest to Ozpin, who smiled lightly before composing himself into the usual stoic expression. Jaune hopped on the spot, getting rid of all the jitters and restlessness that had settled as he stood waiting with his dad. When Glynda approached and saw him, she smiled slightly and nodded in his direction. He almost forgot to pull his hood back over his face when nodded enthusiastically back.

"Hey Glynda." He said casually, grinning.

She smiled a bit more broadly before realizing she was supposed to be in 'teacher mode' (as Jaune had dubbed it), "Please refer to me as Ms. Goodwitch, Ja-erm Mr. Arc." She responded coolly as she coughed lightly into her hand, her face smoothing into an impassive look.

"Aw, you're even more uptight as a teacher." He mumbled, half-sullenly, half-amused; it was his standard response every time.

"Excuse me?" She asked, an eyebrow raised, Jaune had be around her long enough to know when he should back off.

"N-nothing ma'am!" He said raising his hands in front of him in surrender.

Last time he had angered her he had spent the rest of his day running from her dust spells, not an experience he wanted to grow through again.

The other students walked up and Jaune was sure he saw Weiss give him an 'I want answers and you WILL give them' look. Ruby walked up and he bumped fists with her and nodded at Yang. All the other students began to walk to each pad and ready themselves on their individual platforms when Ozpin spoke up.

Jaune head was too filled with a single thought that drowned out any other sensation.

'This is it.'

'I have been learning to get in here and become a hunter my entire life.'

'I will not fail.'

'I will make my mother, father, and dad proud.'

Jaune eyes blazed from under his hood, flickering between white and ocean blue like a flashlight struggling to turn on. Ozpin clearly remembered John's same look of anticipation. The slightest grin, that expression as if he was expecting a good memory. Ozpin shook his head ever so slightly, Jaune really was his father's son.

Jaune broke out of his slight reverie and noticed Ruby shaking like a leaf in the wind, "What?"

"Whoever we meet in the forest and make eye contact with will be our partner! For the next four years!" She wailed.

Jaune laughed, ruffling Ruby's hair, "Sounds interesting, don't worry Ruby, I know you'll find someone who will work well with you."

Ruby pouted and sighed dejectedly before turning on her launch pad to stare apprehensively at the forest. All the students took their stance and waited, just then the pad launched the first person and they went flying into the air. One by one, the pads launched all of them into the sky. Yang put on some shades and grinned at Ruby before being sent flying. Jaune gave ruby a grin and nodded as she went sailing into the sky. Right before Jaune's pad launched, he dipped his head down in a nod and was sent into the sky. Jaune laughed out loud and his hood slid off his face, he would have to fix that later. He saw the other students shooting through the forest with their own methods before focusing on the ground as he passed the very top of his ascent and began to fall lower down.

He flipped once, and drew his sword from it shielth at his hip in an icepick grip. Hurtling downwards at a slope, he stabbed his sword into a tree, using his momentum to swing around it once and jump off. He landed on a low branch that bent and shot him back up toward the sky. He flipped acrobatically in the air and rolled into his landing, cartwheeling a few times for effect. He flipped his hood up and smirked as he walked away. He sheathed his sword and lightly placed a hand on his gun holsters.

"The judges score a perfect ten for the fantastic performance of Jaune Arc…" he chuckled.

Ozpin stared at the tablet showing his son as Jaune walked across the forest floor. Relief flooded Ozpin, allowing him to breathe easier.

Glynda looked at him and shook her head, "He did fine Ozpin, I am sure you trained him on landing."

Ozpin sighed, "I did, but he is my son regardless, I worry about him."

Glynda conceded to that, "As any father should, but you can't show favoritism."

Ozpin smirked, "If anything, people will think I hate Jaune."

Jaune kept his ears open, knowing his eyes could be tricked, he pulled his hood slightly lower, and technically this way he would be able to pick his partner by pulling his hood back. He glanced across the woods, the birds chirped merrily in the trees and the squirrels chittered as they played in the trees. Light streamed through breaks in the tree foliage.

Jaune smiled and stretched, "It's calming here…I could totally take a nap…"

Right as Jaune said that, the noises stopped and the animals scurried away or hid. Jaune immediately tensed up and drew his guns. He scanned the area around him and the ground crackled to his right. He placed one gun to his right and kept the other still held high. He blinked and a beowolf pair stalked into the clearing only to immediately shot dead by multiple bullets.

"Well that was a waste of tension." Jaune said holstering one of his guns, "maybe I should switch to close range weapons so I don't use up all my ammo..."

Jaune had multiple magazines of ammo, making sure he had as much as possible, but in his limited experience it was better to be safe rather than sorry. He slipped the other gun in its holster before pulling out his sword.

It was better for hacking through the shrubbery anyway.

Jaune continued on his trek through the forest and often used the direction he had landed in as a guide, he didn't know exactly where he was supposed to be headed, but he knew he would reach his goal eventually. Then he thought about the people he could partner with, Ruby and Weiss didn't seem too bad, they were both obviously skilled and pleasant in their own ways, Yang was a bit too...bright for a regular Joe like him. Besides, he had the oddest feeling that she would not at all agree on the want to keep his chest and face covered at all times. He didn't know much about the other people though he remembered seeing the red-haired amazoness and a few other people on the dust-plane, but he honestly didn't know them.

He sighed as he walked into a clearing, maybe if he didn't find anyone he could go solo...sounded like a pretty good idea actually. He wasn't really opposed to the idea of a partner but really, he doubted anyone would like to partner with him.

He looked at the clearing and decided to try to climb a tree to see if he could find the area he was supposed to head to. He took a few practice bends and activated his aura, he focused them on his legs and shot forward when he reached a tree he began to run up it and leapt onto the highest branch he could reach. Flipping onto that, he jumped on another and another until he reached the top.

"Okay now..." He mumbled, scanning the horizon.

He ignored the cliffs and mountains and eventually settled his gaze on what seemed to be a looming tower or spire-like object in the distance.

Well it was certainly eye-catching, and the only man-made object he saw so far.

"Bingo…" he murmured.

He jumped of the tree and stabbed his sword into it, slowing his descent to the ground, when he was low enough, he pushed off the tree and landed in a crouch on the ground. He heard a rustling in the bush and pulled out a pistol.

"Who is there?" Jaune growled.

Just then a familiar short girl with long white hair stumbled into the clearing. She huffed impatiently and straightened her dress. She hadn't looked up yet and Jaune blinked, apparently she hadn't heard him, so he inched behind the tree. He lowered his hood and hid. She probably wanted to join the amazoness, (he really needed to learn her name, calling her that would be weird) and who was Jaune to get in the way of that?

"Jaune I know you're here." Weiss said.

'Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the tree, Please don't look behind the-' Jaune pleaded in his head.

"Seeing that that tree has sword marks on it, I am going to go out on a limb and say you're behind it." She stated matter-of-factly.

Jaune sighed and walked out from behind the tree, hood low and head down, "Technically, our eyes haven't met, so you don't have to be my teammate if you don't want to Weiss."

She raised an eyebrow and gave me a coolly amused stare, "Why would I not want to, you seem decently competent, just promise me you won't slow me down."

He grinned, "I can definitely promise that, but our eyes still haven't met."

"You should lower your hood then."

Jaune tensed, he blew out a breath before responding, "My face isn't exactly...a normal teen's. I have scars."

She huffed a light laugh, like the tinkling of bells "So do I. Besides if I have to be your partner for the next four years, I might as well get used to it."

"You don't...I-" he sighed, "Fine, I'll show you."

'Dad, probably doesn't count my hood as a sufficient barrier anyway…'

He gripped his hood and pulled it back. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for a reaction. His scars never became a milky white that faded away slightly. Just the opposite they were jagged and dark, like the beowolves had left traces of their fur tones on his face. The comments from the first day of school swam through his head.

It took a minute but he heard her say, "You have blonde hair?"

His eyes snapped open, she was looking a bit shocked, but she wasn't overly repulsed or disgusted "Really? That's your first comment?"

She shrugged but it came off a bit forced, "It explains why you kept your hood up, my scar doesn't even seem to exist compared to those." She looked at him straight on, "Well we made eye contact, guess we are partners."

He shook his head but grinned at her as he slipped his hood on, "I guess so."

She walked up to him and yanked his hood back, "Honestly, don't be ashamed of them, which only serves to give people a chance to make fun of you for it! Chin up!" She commanded

Jaune blinked and scratched his head with a surprised expression, "But I look like-"

"-Nothing horrible. Just someone who has been through a lot and has the scars to show it." She said firmly.

He smiled a timid smile, "You think so?"

She nodded once before stalking forward, "Now come on, we can't spend all day talking."

Jaune grinned, "Weiss, you're going the wrong way. We should head over there." he gestured to their right.

"And why is that?" She said.

"The sword marks on that tree are from me climbing said tree, I saw some old ruins. I figured they might have put the relics in there."

Weiss nodded, "I see…I suppose we can go that way…"

Jaune raised an eyebrow, a grin forming on his face "If it hurts so much to concede to the idea…"

She frowned at him, "Just shut up and get moving."

Jaune yawned and rubbed at his eyes sleepily. Weiss cast him a sidelong glance and shook her head. Jaune looked groggy, but not tired.

He yawned again.

Weiss sighed.

"Sorry, I am perpetually tired at all times when I am not doing something interesting, or so I have been told. If there is not much to do my body just like to rest since I don't get all that much sleep at night."

"And why is that?"

Weiss saw Jaune's shoulders rise an inch as he visibly tensed, she regretted asking why.

"No reason, I just don't sleep comfortably…I haven't in a long while. I am lucky to get a dreamless night every month or so."

"Dreamless?"

Jaune sighed, "I have nightmares. Bad nightmares that relate to…" he gestured helplessly at his scars, it wasn't lost on Weiss that his gesture included his torso.

Weiss bit back her questions, Jaune looked really uncomfortable, and silence that had been companionable had quickly become awkward and strained. Weiss glanced again when she saw the scars on his face ran down the side of his neck. How bad were the scars that went from his face all the way to his torso? Weiss racked her mind for something to say that would break the tension when Jaune looked at her rapier.

"So…cool weapon, mind giving me a few details?" he asked, gesturing to her rapier.

She sighed inwardly in relief; Jaune made a good save, "My rapier is called Myrtenaster, it's a multi-action dust rapier. The cylinder holds dust for me to use, currently I haven't been using any so I have a full cartridge for the moment."

"Do you carry refills?"

"Two full cylinders and multiple vials of dust so I can refill the cartridge if necessary and if I have the time."

"Hmmm…I see. That's pretty neat. What your aura style?"

"I use glyphs to help me move faster and that act as a step in midair. They can also be used to augment others."

"Okay, now that's really badass." Jaune said with a smile.

Weiss laughed, "Thanks."

"No problem Weiss, I am calling it as I see it."

"What about you? You carry two swords and a full metal sheathe, not to mention your pistols, and your armor doesn't it weigh you down."

"No, they are all lightweight and really durable, besides I practiced moving as much as I can in this set, and in all weathers, drove dad mad when I got sick." Jaune chuckled, remember seeing Ozpin panic the first time he had gotten sick and run around with a multiple medicines and thermometer.

"Oh, by the way, who is your father?" Weiss inquired.

"Not allowed to say, well that and I am adopted. Not that matters, I consider him my dad, he done a lot for me that many others wouldn't have." Jaune said, feeling the cold sting of the locket of his biological father and mother.

"You're adopted?" Weiss sounded a bit surprised.

Jaune gestured to his face and torso.

Her eyes widened, "I –um…sorry."

He waved it off and smiled a bit sadly, "You didn't know, it's alright. It was a long time ago. Not directly related to my um…scars, but they died before I was old enough to remember them."

Right then an Ursa flew through the trees, plowing through them.

On fire.

Jaune and Weiss dived for cover and looked curiously at the smoking heap of burned flesh. Jaune instinctively pulled his hood on and glanced around. He saw Yang whose eyes were…red.

Well now he knew not to mess with her, well at least if he wanted to keep his body parts in the right places and things like that.

Another Ursa charged at her and she yelled, "What? You want some?"

Weiss muttered weakly, "Okay, you're right they are definitely skilled."

"Yeah…" He replied in an undertone.

There was a small 'shnk' and the Ursa -which had been standing on its hind legs, about to attack- pitched forward dead with the black-haired girl's weapon buried in its back.

Yang shrugged, "I could have taken 'em."

Jaune got up, feeling that if they showed up Yang wouldn't kill them by accident in a fit of rage. He got up and offered his hand to Weiss, who used it to pull herself up. He motioned toward the castle they had seen. Weiss did want to stop and talk to the other students.

"Why not stop and talk to them?" Weiss demanded.

"All the hopefuls will eventually meet at the temple." Jaune replied slicing through some low-hanging branches, "We might as well get there first just so we know exactly what to expect and what we are supposed to gather, besides in lieu of that thought, it would be better to wait for larger group, as I assume Yang will wait for Ruby and her partner."

Weiss wanted to argue, but it would look good to be there first, not to mention she was sure that Yang girl and that other girl could definitely destroy any trouble they got themselves into.

(A.N. if you remember the argument, Weiss is still a bit peeved about that)

Jaune and Weiss passed into the clearing and saw the small temple with chess pieces on all the stands.

"Chess pieces?" Jaune said.

"So it seems…" Weiss said studying the pieces closely.

"Well how about we take one…or is it two?" Jaune murmured running his hand over the rook chess piece.

"Hmmm…. Well it think it's take one for each grouping of two. Some of the pedestals are empty, others must have arrived here before us and taken a chess piece or two." Weiss said.

"Okay then how about a rook then? Or do you want to take a knight?" Jaune asked.

"You don't mind?"

He smiled, "Nah, whatever makes you comfortable."

Weiss was about to choose when a loud shout echoed across the clearing, "Hey everybody! We're here!"

Weiss and Jaune both turned to see Yang who was striding across the clearing a wide grin stretching across her face. Weiss saw Jaune had quickly drawn up his hood, before she could comment though she was cut off. Yang waved.

"Jaune! What's up? I am surprised you got here before us."

"We could have talked but I wasn't too keen on stopping, Weiss and I had stuff to do, like getting here and picking up a relic. We decided to wait for others to show up."

Yang pouted, "You should've stopped to say hello…"

Jaune patted her shoulder, "I'm sorry then, I'll not make it a point to greet you every time we see each other, okay?"

Yang chuckled, "See that you do."

"So are you going to introduce us to the young lady in black?" Jaune said waving his hand.

"Hello, Jaune, I am Blake Belladonna." Said woman replied quietly.

"Nice to meet you, Blake, you know my name but my full name Is Jaune Arc."

She smiled and looked at the pieces, "So are those the relics?"

Jaune shrugged, "Weiss and I believe so, and I think it will affect our grouping, but that's just my intuition."

"So, Weiss," Yang said, "Where'd you meet, Jaune?"

She smirked, "He was-"

"In a clearing, um, behind a tree, I was climbing down, she thinks I was hiding." Jaune cut in.

"You were!" Weiss retorted.

"I was simply pulling my sword out of the tree, which is why I didn't respond the first few times you said something." He lied nonchalantly.

"That is a total lie."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is…no, we are not getting into this."

"You would've lost anyway…" She said, crossing her arms.

"No I wouldn't have." Jaune said.

"Yes, you would!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No…DAMMIT WEISS!" he growled.

{PAGE BREAK}_

Blake and Yang had already selected a knight piece and were watching to the two bicker.

"Wow, they really work well together, don't they?" Yang said, nudging Blake in the ribs.

"I suppose." Blake replied smiling.

Right then a dying Ursa roared as it clambered into the clearing, right before a blast of pink plasma spread over its back and it fell forward dead. And orange-haired girl dressed in what seemed to be a cross between armor and a dress tumbled off its head and pouted as she inspected the burning hole she had made in its back. Everybody had taken their stances and before realizing they were looking at another hopeful.

"Aww, it's broken." She mumbled.

A boy in a green robe-like shirt and cream pants with a pink stripe of hair panted as he rested his hands on his knees, "Nora *pant* promise me you'll never *pant* do that again."

He looked up to see his friend –now identified as Nora- was inspecting one of the pedestals that had a rook on it. She grabbed and began to sing and pose.

"I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~"

"Nora!" her friend barked, irritated.

She made the rook piece rolled off her leg into her hand as she giggled, "Coming Ren!"

Just then everybody heard a scream of "HEADS UP!"

The six looked up to see two screaming redheads falling from the sky.

"Umm…I think that's Ruby…and the amazoness from the locker rooms…" Jaune said.

"Her name is Pyrrha Nikos." Weiss said.

"Oh that's good to know…shouldn't we, I dunno, try to catch them or something?" Jaune said.

"Probably…" Yang supplied.

"Okay…" Jaune strode into the middle of the clearing and charged his aura.

And began to run to the edge. He zipped up a tree and crouched on a tree branch before launching himself sideways and catching Ruby. He flipped and gently deposited her on the ground before leaping forward and catching Pyrrha in a bridal hold.

"Heya." He said smiling as he landed.

"Um hello, um…" she said, turning red.

He set her on her feet and turned to look at the sky.

"Jaune, my name is Jaune, but introductions can be done later, is that a Nevermore?" He asked.

Said Nevermore screamed in range before swerving towards us. Jaune noticed smaller shapes detach themselves from shadows and began to prowl the edges of the clearing.

Beowolves, quite a few of them.

"Well looks like it's become a crowd," Jaune said grimly, sliding his sword into the over sword. White fire glimmered along the edges of the blade, gleaming like a star, "might as well party."

His hand slid into his sheathe and it mechashifted as he raised a shield.

With a battle cry, he charged.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter out hope you guys like it, Drop a review if you can!

Jaune sliced into another beowolf and rolled forwards to jab a second one in the ribs. He ripped it out of the Beowolf's side and whirled around. He ducked under the outstretched arms of another Beowolf and grabbed it in a chokehold and rammed his blade straight down its mouth and into its throat.

"Taste bad?" he growled as he twisted the blade before pulling it out.

Jaune dropped back and flipped his oversword back into a black sword and caught it his left hand after quickly mechashifting his shield back into a sheath again. He thought the horde of wolves would be the most troublesome, but as another hail of feathers peppered the ground where he was standing, he again wished he had a better long range weapon to deal with the Nevermore. He was starting to get annoyed, his guns were nowhere near strong enough to kill the bird, they irritated it, but that was all it did. He knocked one feather aside with an aura-powered slice of his knight's sword. He skidded back a grimace forming on his face. The Nevermore began to fire even more of its deadly feathered projectiles at Jaune, who growled in annoyance.

He swung both his blades through intricate webs and flourishes, knocking the feathers away or redirecting them. Each shot pushed him back as he began to skid and be pushed back before he eventually hit a slight rise in the earth and fell back. He threw himself sideways out of the way of another feather and barely got to his feet before Weiss fired a dust spell at the bird drawing its attention.

"Idiot!" she yelled as she moved –or actually looked like she had danced- straight through a buckshot of projectiles, weaving through the deadly feathers, "Your guns don't have the necessary power to kill that thing and using your sword won't help!"

He shot forward using his aura and slammed into a Beowolf about to tackle her. The Beowolf growled and tried to slash at him, but Jaune had not spent eight years under Ozpin's and his instructors' tutelage for nothing. He grappled the Beowolf and slammed it into the ground with more than enough force to kill it. Of course he made sure though.

He stabbed both of his swords into the downed grimm's chest as he responded, "I know that! If I could get higher up I might be able to kill it…" His eyes brightened as an idea shot through his head, "Weiss can you launch me up there using your aura glyphs?"

She frowned, "You could easily miss, and it's quick for something so big. That isn't even the whole problem either, what happens when you get on?"

"Well it's either that or try to match it in endurance and I am sure we won't win that one!" he said as he cut another Beowolf in half.

The rest of the teams were doing fine. Yang and Blake were slicing and smashing Beowolves into puppy chow at the rate they were going, Ruby and Pyrrha were sending Beowolf parts flying into the air, and Ren and Nora worked in seamless tandem, knocking away all opposition. The only problem was the bird. If Jaune could get in close enough to use his shield, he could easily give a few bruises and maybe even deter it, but even his shield had limits. He couldn't make it a chainsickle weapon like Blake's or a gun. Weiss conjured an aura glyph as the Nevermore launched another barrage of feathers. He noticed Weiss beginning to sweat and glyphs waver under the force of the barrage.

"Ugh, I wish I had wings, at least then I could try to fight it." Jaune grumbled lowly as he noticed the bird seem to aim at Yang and Blake, "YANG! BLAKE! MOVE!"

They both leapt aside as arrows splintered the trees they had been fighting near. Jaune scowled at the avian-type grimm. Things couldn't stay like this, they need some sort of plan…

Jaune had an idea.

Jaune dashed into the trees and climbed up a tree, ignoring Weiss looking at him in shock. He brought out his guns and fired at the bird. At a closer range the bullets had a bit more of an effect and he bird cawed before it fired feathers at him. He threw himself into another tree's branches as feathers broke through the wood and nearly sliced him into ribbons. He didn't even wince as he felt a piece of wood graze his side.

"JAUNE! GET OUT OF THERE!" Weiss screeched, looking horrified, "YOU CAN'T KILL IT ALONE!"

She was probably right, what he was doing was idiotic, and borderline suicidal.

But hell it was a plan that if it worked out as he planned, it would probably only wound him severely.

Well that or kill him.

He really hoped it would be the first option, it would be mildly irritating if he died now.

Jaune blocked her and his new classmates' shouts of protest out as he focused, he didn't need to be distracted. He jumped through the trees and slammed one of his pistols on top of another a blade slid out of the top as it became an automatic armblade rifle. He shot several salvos at the bird after slamming a heavier more damaging ammo cartridge in the slot, making it angry.

'Come on, just a bit more…' Jaune pleaded in his mind.

He pulled out his knight's sword once again as his crazy plan was now firmly in motion.

"Come on you feathered wuss! Come get some!" He roared, it seemed to hesitate between him and his classmates, "DAMMIT, YOU FUCKING OVERGROWN PIGEON, LOOK AT ME YOU UGLY FLYING SHIT!

Apparently that last comment made it choose Jaune first.

The bird began to fly a bit away and dive at the speck that was irritating it. There was a sound akin to roar as the Nevermore plowed into the trees where Jaune was waiting. Jaune jumped and as it flew just under him and stabbed his sword downwards into its feather-covered neck, using his aura to help the blade pierce through the tough hide. The Nevermore realized Jaune had climbed onto it and began to sway in its flight, trying to dislodge him. Jaune growled and slipped his guns into their holsters as he slipped his left hand into his mechashift sheath and grabbed his sword with his right.

"Alright your overgrown pigeon..." Jaune growled as his shield mechashifted into a gauntlet, which began glowing with aura, "EAT THIS!"

He began to pummel the bird with the massive gauntlet, slamming it repeatedly in the face and torso until there were cracks starting to spread through the bone mask of the bird. The bird squawked and cawed in pain and rage before it began to roll and spin like it was performing a circus routine. Jaune clung to his sword and cursed as he felt it begin to slide out. He changed his gauntlet into a double ended halberd, Jaune pushed it to the limit; flooding it with aura making it gleam like a star exploding into a supernova.

He took a lunging step forward and sheathe his knight's sword into his oversword sheathe, he grasped the double halberd with both hands and stabbed as hard as he could into the grimm's neck.

The bird let out a gurgled shriek of pure pain, making the forest quake and Jaune's ears ring like he was standing next to an alarm bell. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried it tough out what felt like someone pushing hot spikes of pain through his scalp and directly into his brain. He felt lightheaded and realized two things as his head slowly put together the pieces of his predicament.

One, the Nevermore was dead and falling.

Two, he was on said falling Nevermore, nearly passing out.

Well damn.

This would be more than mildly troublesome.

He started wrapping his entire body in his aura, trying to shield himself as much as he could. Of course with all the trees and breaking branches, one of the dead Nevermore's wings hit the back of his head and knocked him into a state where he was about to pass out. He pulled even more aura into his impromptu second skin and the last thing he heard was Weiss scream his name as he blacked out.

Weiss sprinted over to where the Nevermore had crashed. Jaune couldn't be dead, but she wouldn't accept it until she saw it. Then again he had crashed into so many trees, he couldn't have lived. She burst into the new clearing as she scanned the crash site. The body of the Nevermore was motionless, and it was undeniably dead. Black grimm blood dripped slowly from the gash through its neck and pooled on the floor. Everybody who had followed gaped at the size of the gash in its neck.

"Jaune?! Jaune, where are you?!" she called out frantically.

She circled around and gasped as she saw him sprawled out on the ground on a pile of broken wood. White fire was still emanating and floating off him in small bursts as his aura worked to heal him. She ran over and her hands fluttered over his torso as she debated trying to rouse him to wake up. His hood was torn off and his clothes and armor was banged up and torn. She glanced at the small cuts and her gaze traveled lower she gasped as she saw a piece of wood buried in his thigh. Blood had soaked the wood and dripped of the shard of wood in a slow rhythm.

Jaune groaned and stirred, "Ow…"

Immediately he heard a relieved sigh and he looked up to see Weiss slump in relief. His classmates breathed a sigh of relief as they heard him move. Jaune tried to get up when he realized his right shoulder was not responding and hurting quite a lot. He grunted as he felt the arm and knew it was dislocated. He felt his aura begin to knit up his other small cuts and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked cautiously.

"My arm is dislocated…You want to push it in?" He asked casually as if her were asking her to choose him a jacket to wear.

"Um…" Weiss looked uncertain.

"Okay then, I guess I'll do it." Jaune said after seeing her hesitate.

He grabbed his shoulder and locked a snarl of pain as he shoved his shoulder back into its socket with an audible "POP". He squeezed one eye shut in pain as he rotated his arm carefully, ignoring the pain. He looked and saw the shard of wood in his leg. Before Weiss could even try to stop him, he grabbed the shard of wood and pulled it out of his leg. He opened a pouch on his belt and immediately wrapped the bleeding gash in his leg. Weiss watched in slight disbelief as he painfully got to his feet.

"Remind me to find a way to later on how to deal with overgrown birds without getting myself hurt so much." He chuckled.

Then out of nowhere Weiss punched him really hard in the uninjured shoulder, "You absolute and utter moron!"

"Ow," he yelled, "what the hell was that for?"

"For trying to kill a Nevermore alone!" she growled.

"For the record, I did kill a Nevermore, I didn't try! And beside that you're not supposed an injured person!" he yelled.

The classmates watched in disbelief as those two argued. Then they looked at Jaune's face and saw his scars, a collective gasp went up. Jaune and Weiss were too wrapped up in their argument to notice, but Yang was staring, Blake closed her eyes, Pyrrha looked away, Nora hid behind Ren – who blinked in shock- and Ruby sighed as she analyzed all their reactions.

Jaune and Weiss stopped arguing before Jaune looked up and realized hood had been ripped out. He blinked and shadowed as much of his face as he could with his bangs. Weiss turned and saw the group staring and sighed.

Great he knew this would happen.

Jaune rubbed bandaged knee absentmindedly, "Looks like it's a bit better now…"

Weiss watched as he undid the bandage, "Hey wait, you should wait until-"

Jaune pulled off the now-red bandage and his leg looked as if there wasn't any damage to it at all. The blood stains and tear were the only sign that he had any damage done to the area at all. He looked up and saw everybody look away from him hurriedly except Ruby. He frowned and let himself fall behind. Weiss put a hand on his back and forced him to keep up.

"Can you stop?" he mumbled.

"No, you are moping and I refu-"

"Let go. NOW." He said, his voice dropped but was no less clear.

"Jaune…?" Weiss asked dropping her hand.

"I'm taking a slightly different path in the route back, I can tell when I am not wanted." He said.

He slowed down and veered slightly to the right before leaving in a flash of aura.

"Now look at what you've done!" Ruby cried throwing up her arms.

Weiss followed up, despite wondering how Ruby knew, "He's sensitive about his scars, and no doubt your constant staring was making him uncomfortable!"

"Well sorry but you had have to admit his face KINDA draws attention!" Yang retorted, despite the embarrassed blush on her face, she was in the wrong, and she knew it.

"Ruby and Weiss are right though," Ren interjected, "We shouldn't be staring."

"So you're saying I'm wrong?" Yang said, hands on her hips, she may have been wrong but she knew for a fact Ren, Blake, Nora, and Pyrrha were too.

"No, but we have to be considerate, we were blatantly staring when we probably shouldn't have, I'll be the first to say his face draws attention, but we really shouldn't have acted like that." Ren said his hands up.

They looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Well, I guess you're right, do any of you know what happened to him?" Blake asked.

Weiss shrugged helplessly, "All I know is that it happened to him a while ago."

"So…do we wait for him?" Pyrrha asked uncertainly.

"No, he said he would go on ahead." Weiss said walking past the group.

"He took off in a direction that isn't heading to the cliff, how will that get him there?" Ruby asked.

Weiss grinned, "Who said he wanted to go back to the cliff?"

When they had returned to the cliff they saw Jaune resting there, had a white jacket with a red sigil on the back, he had no hood. He glared at them with bleary eyes, it was clear he was napping. Ozpin and Glynda were nowhere to be found.

"Took you long enough, I've been here for fifteen minutes." Jaune muttered as he got up, "Anyway you guys are supposed to head back. If you're worried about grouping Ozpin knows what pieces you picked up and which group are put in, so don't stress too much about it.

He began to walk back but Ren caught his shoulder, "Hey Jaune?"

"Yes?"

"I –no- We are sorry." He said firmly, everybody nodded in agreement.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head, and turned to smile sheepishly, everybody blinked at the sudden boyish charming look his face had taken, his scars didn't detract from the image at all, "I already forgave you, some friends told me to get used to it, I believed in what they said, but I am quick to anger. But the sorry was a nice thing, so thank you very much."

"Wait you're not angry? Even a little?" Yang asked, despite Ruby's attempt to shush her, she had spoken out.

He stopped dead, "If you want me to be, I can act like that…" he turned to them with such a sad smile and heartbroken look that it could melt Glynda Goodwitch's heart, "But why should I? I am the one who is different with my ugly scarred face, right? People like me are usually ostracized, right? Why should I expect any better?"

He turned and walked off, and for the first time -but definitely not the last- the same group of teens wished they could erase that look from his face. They watched as the young man retreating back as he walked towards the academy in the distance. Weiss broke out when she realized that was her partner, she jogged after him. When she reached him he turned around and gave her a blank look.

"Yeah? You need something?" He asked.

"Yeah, where do you think you're going?" Weiss asked angrily, pointing an accusing finger at him.

He jerked back, eyes wide, "Wha…? I was just going to the stage to wait for team pairing."

She stepped closer and glared at him, "Yeah, and you do realize we are team members right?"

"Well yeah, but-" he said backing up a bit.

"But nothing! We are a team, sure you may have little confidence in people, and you have no sense of self-preservation, but you are a skilled fighter and my teammate! We stick together."

He blinked and suddenly a huge smile blossomed over his face, Weiss blinked.

"Yeah, we're a team, you think you can keep up?" He asked, a teasing tone entered his voice.

Weiss raised an eyebrow, "I should be asking that, scraggly."

"Whoa now, why do you think you are calling scraggly, huh Ms. uptight and I-am-so-perfect?"

"Hey I never said I was perfect!" she retorted, despite her indignant and reproaching tone, a grin stretched out over her face.

"By dust! The snow angel has a heart! Quick somebody pinch me!"

*THOCK*

"DAMMIT WEISS I SAID 'PINCH' NOT 'PUNCH OR WHACK UPSIDE HEAD'" Jaune yelled.

Weiss smiled smugly, "You should have specified more…"

Jaune sputtered, "What? Oh come on! That is totally and completely a lie! You knew exactly what I meant! Hey don't ignore me woman!"

Ozpin watched smiling at his son. He was glad, thing may just look up for him.


	6. Chapter 5

Sorry this took a while to write out school and stuff you know?

Y.A.R.N.

After looking for him, Tucker and Velvet greeted Jaune enthusiastically, practically tackling him in a hug. Jaune was more relieved than he thought possible when he saw them, he knew the forest was no pushover and to see them make it out safely made all the worries and apprehension in his chest melt away. He introduced his friends to Weiss and the rest of the group that he had met in the forest. Weiss seemed more reluctant than he thought at first but he managed to get her to be cordial.

"I am glad you guys made it!" Jaune exclaimed, "I got a bit beat up for my troubles in the forest."

"I noticed…" Velvet murmured, glancing down at the bloodstains on Jaune's pants.

"So how do you know Jaune?" Blake seemed curious why as to why Jaune would make friends with Faunus.

Tucker flashed her his trademark smile, "Well Jaune met me when we both we little, he returned a ball to me despite me being a Faunus and pretty much called everyone an idiot for making assumptions that we were less. We were pretty tight from then on, Jaune and I ran into Velvet alone at her lunch table and we couldn't help but hang out with her, it's done wonders for her confidence, she know can look someone in the eye rather than blush and hide behind us, like she did in the beginning!"

That last comment earned him a smack upside the head from Velvet, "Shut up…" she muttered, her ears lowering in embarrassment, she used to think everyone was out to get her!

Jaune chuckled, "Yeah we are practically brothers and sisters now, besides Tucker acts just like an annoying younger sibling!"

"Hey! I take offense to that statement!" Ruby said vehemently.

Jaune held his hands up, "Well ask Yang for the truth, she a better choice in proving me wrong right…right Yang?"

Yang glowered at him, "Don't make me add to collection you got going on your face."

Jaune's eyes flashed, not with amusement or hurt, but with pure and total rage, he scowled and his eyes flashed with white fire. It was for a nanosecond but it was enough to make Velvet and Tucker both put a hand on his shoulder. Jaune looked at them emotionlessly before shrugging and looking as if nothing happened. Yang on the other hand looked utterly ashamed, she had forgotten about Jaune's sensitivity when people referred to his scars. She saw Ruby move up behind her and let herself get smacked upside the head by Ruby.

"Seriously Yang?" Ruby hissed.

"I am sorry! I forgot!" She insisted.

"Don't say that to me say it to him!" Ruby growled.

Yang turned to Jaune with her mouth open, be he already had his hand up, "Just drop it, okay? We forget it happened, alright?"

Yang nodded, a bit subdued. Velvet and Tucker both glared at her for a second before turning away.

"Sooo… anything else you want to know about how the three of us know each other?" Tucker said awkwardly.

Nobody spoke up.

'Thank you for screwing up the conversation Yang...' Weiss sighed in her head, 'Would it honestly kill you to think before you speak?

Jaune absently rubbed his leg as his group stepped up. Ozpin's eyes flashed to Jaune's bloodstains as people muttered as Jaune walked past. He stopped in front of Ozpin as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His friends stood in a line next to him seeming calm, well, except for Nora.

"Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren. You have carried with you the White Rook piece. You will be known as Team JWNR."

Jaune smothered a snicker as Nora threw her arms around Ren exuberantly.

Jaune leaned down, "You picked the white rook?"

Weiss looked smug, "Someone had to pick up a piece while you were carving up beowolves."

Jaune chuckled, "You're sounding a bit uppity, we don't want any swelled heads now, and you got an enough of an ego for the four of us as it is."

Weiss huffed, "Shut up, scraggly."

"Snow Angel."

"That's not an insult." She muttered, flushing red.

"Still makes you all red and flustered, good enough for me." He said deviously.

She opened her mouth to hiss a response, but Ozpin cut her off, "The leader of the team will be Jaune Arc."

Jaune frowned, "What?" A movement mirrored by Weiss.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said.

Jaune glared daggers at his dad, his eyes screamed, 'You can't be serious!'

Ozpin's eyes were firm, 'I'll explain later.'

Jaune sighed and moved off the stage, hands stuffed in his pocket and a scowl threatening to break through his neutral expression.

Weiss was grumpy, "Why did he choose you for leader?" She muttered sullenly.

"I know! What the hell is he thinking?" He growled as he watched Ruby, Pyrrha, Yang, and Blake step up and become Team RPBY.

"You're not happy?" She asked, eyes disbelieving.

"Hell no! I was banking on you being leader!" He growled, "I have no skills when it comes to leading people, I barely strategize! Heck, I prefer independence!"

"Someone doesn't like teamwork..." She muttered lowly.

"You could say that, but honestly I just don't like to drag everyone down." He murmured.

Weiss sent him an odd stare. He certainly didn't drag anyone down, especially in the forest when he decided to stab a Nevermore in the throat after climbing onto it. If anything while everybody had been unable to think of a suitable plan he was the only one who had a plan to take down the Nevermore. That and the fact he wanted to consider other options that were safer and more suited for the attack. He also kept an eye on his teammates warning Blake and Yang to move before the Nevermore could shoot them with feathers. If anything he had the qualities of a good -perhaps even great- leader.

"That isn't it." Weiss said matter-of-factly.

"Eh?" Jaune said, "What do you mean by that?"

"That isn't the reason you decided not to be a team leader, there is something else." She replied.

He laughed, except it sounded so fake it almost hurt to hear, "Yeah as if that hasn't been the reason for years why I would skip my turn as leader every time there was any sort of activity."

Weiss shrugged, "You don't even know why, but whatever it is you need to conquer it or you won't be an effective leader."

"I don't WANT to be a leader at all!" He protested.

"You don't have a choice, I can tell enough about Ozpin that he isn't budging on this no matter how much you insist, just accept it."

The worst part was, Jaune knew his teammate was right, Dad probably wasn't changing his mind.

"DAD. DON'T IGNORE ME." Jaune growled as he stood, hands slammed on his dad's desk.

"Jaune, you took down the Nevermore, and looked out for-" Ozpin sighed, knew his son would be adamant not to be a leader.

This adamant, Ozpin didn't expect.

Jaune wasn't taking this and he made it clear he wanted a change. Ozpin hoped that Jaune's want to look good at Beacon would mute his son's protests, but Jaune was just as bullheaded and stubborn as his mother and father put together and if not, more so. He told Ozpin multiple times that he didn't give a damn what people thought of him.

And he damn well demonstrated that to him.

He grabbed Ozpin's arm and growled "TALK. NOW." In front of a group of kids (which included his own team and some upperclassmen) and dragged him to his own office with the same look his mother had worn when interrupting John and Ozpin's multiple pranks when they attended Beacon years ago.

Lord, that look made his skin crawl.

Jaune glowered at Ozpin and crossed his arms, Glynda hid a small smile behind her hand. She had only witnessed a few of these occurrences at Ozpin's house, and every time it amused her to no end when Ozpin squirmed under his son's angered gaze. Jaune still waited and Ozpin knew that if he budged he would be gambling a lot more than his son's leadership skills, he would gamble his respect.

"It doesn't matter, Dad. I told you I didn't want to lead at all. You said I wouldn't." Jaune argued, cutting his dad off mid-speech.

"I said you might not, I never said you wouldn't." Ozpin said smugly.

Jaune looked like he was about to yell, but then his face smoothed over and he smiled.

SMILED.

Ozpin knew that smile.

"Fine. You want me to lead? Alright, I can do that, I'll do it VERY well. In fact, DAD, you'll be wishing you had set ANYONE else but me as team leader, if I am as stubborn as I like to think I am, then I am sure you have your work cut out for you." Jaune drawled slouching in his chair.  
>Ozpin blinked, Jaune had pulled this stunt many times, and Ozpin knew exactly what it was.<p>

Jaune slouched and slunk out of the room, giving Glynda a lecherous appraising grin and a 'hey babe' head jerk as he departed.  
>Glynda burst out with giggles, the first time Jaune had pulled this stunt, Ozpin called his staff for help, and Glynda recorded how agitated and irritated he sounded. She quickly typed out a small message to all of the staff that Jaune knew.<p>

'Jaune here and he is pulling THAT stunt again.'

Jaune walked into his new dorm room and flung his pack carelessly on the bed before flopping down on it without taking any of his clothes off including his shoes or armor. Weiss blinked, what the heck happened to him?

"It's only fair to warn you guys, but I am going to be a total prick and douche for the next while, however long that may be. So you may want to do things independent of my decisions." He yawned.

"Why?"

"Ozpin'll crack under this tactic sooner or later. I just need to act like I don't give a damn about my education."

Everybody knew how displeased Jaune was with the leadership situation, and to go about changing that like this…

"You're willing to go pretty far to get what you want…" Ren observed with a chuckle.

"Well I am not going to lead, that's for damn sure, and if it takes my most devious attitude so be it…you should probably shoot that as a text to Team RPBY too. I don't Yang to kill me after rearranging my organs."

Ren nodded and after sending off a text, and chuckled at the immediate reply, "They want to know why."

Jaune motioned for Ren to pass him the scroll, murmuring as he typed out, "I don't want to be team leader, Ozpin can only take so much of a disrespectful attitude before he decides to either yield, or beat me up, and honestly I think this is my best shot to get the first option..."

The reply was, "Don't be too bad."

Jaune sighed, "Sorry but I have to be at my absolute worst for this to work."

He finished the text and flipped Ren the scroll.

Weiss woke up the next day to see Jaune reading the monster course book for classes. Other course books were scattered on the bed, all of them dog-eared at certain points. He was fully dressed and he looked like he had showered. A lightly damp towel hung from his neck.

"So up before all of us?" She inquired sitting up and yawning.

Jaune shrugged mildly before replying, "I am studying all the course material, I plan to make up for the bad behavior complaints with top marks, that way, Ozpin knows he can't force me to behave using grades, I'll average B's at best, C's at worst. Da -Ozpin hates it when his students don't perform to the best of their abilities."

"What were you about to say?" Weiss asked.

"What are you talking about?" Jaune said stretching to cover the waver in his voice.

"You were going to say something, but you changed midway through and started about Ozpin hating his students failing."

"Haha, you're hearing things Snow Angel." Jaune said nonchalantly, knowing this taunt would throw Weiss off a bit.

She huffed, irritated, "Would you stop calling me that?"

"Nope, it's either this or Ms. Uppity or Silverlocks." Jaune said casually as he got out of his bed as he checked the time.

"What?! Can't you call me Weiss, you blond dolt!" She growled, face red.

"One, that's no fun. Two, your cruel words hurt me so, Snow Angel. Three, how can I stop when you blush so cutely every time I call you that?" He said, grinning broadly.

Weiss threw a hangar at him, and Jaune caught it with a smile, "Hangars? Imagine the damage! I could have died!"

"One can only hope..." Weiss muttered darkly.

"What was that, Snow Angel?"

"I am going to beat to an inch of your life Jaune!"

Jaune laughed.

Before they left, Jaune untucked half of his shirt and lessened his tie until it was barely tied at all. He ruffled the back of his hair giving him a bad case of bed head, and he threw his backpack carelessly over one shoulder, and put sneakers on rather than the recommended dress shoes. His usually bright mannered and straight personality seemed to dull overall. He looked and acted like a slacker rather than a normal –let alone good- student. Ren looked at Jaune in mild worry and amusement.

"You really pulling out all the stops, aren't you?"

Jaune chuckled normally, "I have to, and Ozpin needs to know how serious I am."

"How do you know how to deal with headmaster Ozzy?" Nora inquired.

Jaune grinned, "One, people might say I have experience dealing with him. Two, that is a fantastic nickname Nora."

Nora smiled even wider that compliment. Jaune took a seat at the back of the class while the rest of his team moved a bit away from him. Professor Port walked in and Jaune kicked up his feet onto the empty chair next to him, grinning. Peter Port used to regale him of stories that had Peter himself at the protagonist when he was a bit younger while he and Ozpin were living in the house. While they were horrendously long (and were the perfect remedy for insomnia), there was a lot of useful techniques hidden in the lecture. Peter's overblown details made great guides, and although his moves were flashy and pretty, they were powerful.

Jaune put his notebook on his leg and flipped the cap off his pen. He was hoping that he would be seen, it wouldn't help if Professor Port saw him. Peter was the kind of guy that if he saw you would make no doubt he knew you from before and implied that you were a treasured acquaintance or (more likely) friend.

And…

Professor Port spotted Jaune and laughed, "Well now, isn't this a surprise? You've sprouted like an Ursa Major, Jaune!"

Jaune blushed slightly, "I drink a lot of milk, Professor."

The class glanced at Jaune and did a double take as they saw how unorganized he seemed. Jaune might as well wear his normal armor, Peter wasn't someone who cared very much for appearance, except when it came to his moustache. He sighed, Peter would definitely say-

"Jaune, you look as though you had just fallen down some stairs! Had a rough morning? I can't fault you lad, I have them in the beginning too. By the way, over the message Glynda sent -does she mean 'that' stunt?" he said quite loudly.

Jaune began to slump even more in his seat, he nodded mutely, face red.

Peter laughed, "I see, we'll see how it turns out for you then, anyway let's start the class!"

Jaune let out a muted groan and facedesked, 'Lovely, now everyone knows I know Peter from before…'

Jaune eyes drifted to the window as Professor Port ran through the four-billion and seventh take of his capturing the den mother of a pack of beowolves. Jaune had heard it before and had even used less flashy versions of attacks and parries in his fights, it was a bit difficult to glean the teachings though. Jaune eyes tracked a bird flying through the sky and sighed, lucky thing. Jaune usually hated flying, dustplanes gave motion sickness and he was only barely getting over his nausea when climbing aboard. He imagined the rides would be so much smoother with wings, as a kid Jaune would love to run as fast as he could with other kids of the orphanage, the wind hitting his face brought a sort of rush he could never fully explain.

He had sat there in a stupor for quite some time, waiting for the class to end when suddenly he heard a growl from the front of the class. He blinked but refused to look, not this. God, the first time Peter offered to train Jaune, he brought a beowolf for Jaune to fight. Jaune had been scared –hell, terrified- since it was his first grim since the incident...

The beowolf charged and Jaune raised his shield only to wait for a few seconds to see the beowolf cleanly decapitated and crashing to the floor. Ozpin sheathed the blade in his cane, and quite literally began yelling at Peter for even trying that while Jaune sat numb and trembling on the ground. He shakily got to his feet and told his dad and Peter sorry before bolting into the house and curling up on his bed like he could protect himself from the anxiety. As he finally calmed down he realized he need to fight Grimm, freezing like that would only get him killed.

He asked for another chance and Peter happily obliged. Jaune had faced a variety of Grimm thanks to Peter and though he came out on top, he always doubted whether or not it would be good to teach anyone like that. Especially when Peter began to handicap Jaune in the fights.

Shaking off the memories, Jaune looked at the cage and recognized the growls and snorts coming from the cage this was undoubtedly a boarbatusk.

"So who believes themselves to have all the qualities of a true hunter in training?" Peter called.

Weiss hand along with several other's flashed into the air. Peter saw Jaune look away and duck his head. A mistake, never let Peter see you try to duck out of a challenge or not take it, he would force you into it if he caught you.

"Jaune how about you take a crack at it?" Professor called.

Jaune groaned, "Handicap or no?"

"Handicap if you please Jaune."

"Fine."

Everybody began to mutter what handicap meant when Jaune began to move down the steps from the back of the class. Jaune undid his tie and shrugged out of his blazer, depositing both of them on his chair. He undid the collar buttons and untucked his shirt as he stepped down the stairs; everyone saw his gun holsters flash in the lighting in the room. Everybody realized he would be taking it on with what he had on him and nothing else, some stared while other mumbled he was dead. Fat Chance. He put his hands into a southpaw style and took a deep breath. Peter drew his axe and slashed the lock, letting the boarbatusk out. It immediately squealed and charged at Jaune.

Jaune rolled sideways and kicked the monster in the side as it passed him. It was almost impossible to stop a boarbatusk charge without tools or weapons, you could redirect it and move it off course, but not stop it. One would need a barrier strong enough to keep it from breaking through. The monster squealed as it tumbled onto its side and slid across the floor. Jaune spun both guns in his hands and slammed them together, forming his bladed assault rifle. Jaune spun it and gripped it like a tonfa, he grinned, he was glad he managed to add this feature to his guns before he got on the dustplane.

The boar was back on its feet and jumped into the air before rolling towards him like a very angry tire. Jaune covered his weapon with aura and braced it in front of him as the boar crashed into him. Jaune skidded back, but he refused to fall, that would be a fatal mistake. With a shout he used the momentum of the monster and a burst of aura to send it into the air. He crouched and leapt upwards, slicing into the beast's stomach with the blade on his tonfa. He landed and retracted his tonfa into his two guns before holstering them (with a sigh as the dead Grimm crashed to the floor, dramatics were something you tended to do around Peter).

"Very well done, very well done indeed my boy! You have gotten much better since I last saw you!" Peter applauded.

Jaune smiled, "Thanks, I have been practicing, though not as intensely as I should have, those finals were tough."

Peter chuckled and ushered Jaune to his seat, "Well that is all we have time for today, please remember the fight you have seen and finish the homework assigned for this class."

Jaune shrugged into his blazed but simply stuffed his tie in his bag, he wasn't dealing with it. His team 'congratulated' him as the left.

"That is so unfair, Jaune! Why were you picked?" Weiss complained

"Because I tried to duck out of being picked, Pete –I mean Professor Port hates that." Jaune corrected himself.

"Stop doing that! It's extremely annoying when you cut yourself off!" Weiss said.

"Aw… leave me alone Snow Angel…" Jaune replied wearily.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"


	7. Chapter 6

Hope you guys like the chapter! Sorry I have been studying technically I actually shouldn't be typing this little message at all but hey, when was the last time i listened to authority?

-Y.A.R.N.

Jaune yawned before he slumped a bit more in his seat, inwardly disassembling Professor Obleck's lighting fast style of talking (which Ozpin had told him was no easy feat), making a few key notes while seeming like he was resting. Obleck zoomed over to him with his coffee cup in hand, nearly sloshing the coffee over Jaune's slumped form. Jaune winced and almost allowed his aura to flare around him and shield him.

"Are you taking notes Mr. Arc?" Obleck rushed.

Jaune immediately sat up, "Yes sir, would you like to check over them?"

Professor Obleck almost snatched the notebook and scanned the pages with Jaune's clean writing.

He nodded almost imperceptibly, "Very good, chin up, my boy."

Jaune hadn't met Obleck as he had joined the staff when Jaune had hit his training school, meaning Jaune was usually bushed by the end of the day, mentally more than physically, unable to meet new people. Jaune blinked, he kinda wished he had met Obleck. The man was moving like he was casting random glyphs at his feet like Weiss. Jaune wished he knew how Obleck moved so fast, he doubted caffeine was that much of a miracle. As Obleck continued with his lecture, Jaune felt something lightly tap against the back of his head. A rolled up paper ball rolled into his line of vision.

Jaune didn't even look and shoved the crumpled paper into his pocket he would read it later, not now. If Jaune wanted to keep his notes up to speed, he needed to focus and try to pick out what the teacher was saying. He continued to scratch more notes down on his notebook.

Professor Obleck asked the leader of Team Cardinal a question, to which Cardin responded, "I dunno, I suppose it's easier to train animals than people..."

After a small spat that Pyrrha, Velvet, and Blake had with him, he was told to see Professor Obleck after class.

"Good riddance..." Jaune muttered just loud enough for Cardin to hear.

Cardin glared at him.

Obleck glanced at the clock almost imperceptibly at the clock as he zoomed back to the podium, "That will be all for today, remember to keep up with your reading!"

Jaune put his books in his bag when Cardin shoved roughly past him, "Keep out of my way, scarface."

Jaune froze, a scowl immediately forming on his face.

Blood began to roar in his ears as his hand balled into white knuckled fists as he struggled to not burst into white flames. Before he could redefine the meaning of pain to Cardin, a hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Weiss looking at Cardin with a dark and angry expression. His other two teammates were right behind her; Ren was shaking his head, and Nora was looking at Cardin as if wondering what might come out if he was punched hard enough.

Weiss shook her head and said, "He isn't worth, it let it go, besides you'll be playing into his hands."

Jaune took a deep breath and exhaled in a rush, "He isn't, let's go."

Jaune put his head down on the lunch table after eating his lunch. He could really go for a nap right now. He began to doze off when the table shook, indicating someone had sat down. He looked up and saw his teammates staring at Team RPBY, who were staring at him.

"What?" he asked a confused frown marring his face.

"So who was the note from? What did it say?" Yang asked with absolutely no preamble whatsoever, an excited expression on her face.

"What note?" Jaune asked racking his drowsy mind for an answer.

"The one in Obleck's class, Jaune!" She said, "Come on who was it?"

"Oh, that? Haven't looked at it yet. I'll do it later..." Jaune mumbled sleepily, trying readjust his position to be comfortable.

"Oh come on! You're supposed to show these things when surrounded by your friends!" She insisted.

"It was from the back row." Blake interjected, "Perhaps it was a missed throw..."

Pyrrha gave her a 'probably not' look, "I doubt it, but why not?"

While they talked, Jaune tried to get up but Yang's hand snatched his sleeve.

Jaune sighed, "You aren't going to let this go are you?"

"No."

Everybody at the table was staring at the two expectantly.

Jaune sighed and pulled out the crumpled note out of his pocket. He began to slowly unfold it, carefully smoothing out each wrinkle.

Much to his amusement and Yang's consternation.

"Oh would you hurry it up a bit?!" She growled.

"Yang, please. One must be mentally prepared, I am simply preparing myself for what this paper could contain." He said in an 'I am a scholar and dignified gentleman' accent "Every wrinkle must be as straight as I can make it, for it is only fair that I take the proper care."

Yang flicked a pea at his head, "You're doing this on purpose aren't you."

"Glad you figured that much out." Jaune said, smirking, "Your genius intellect should be proudly boasted and lauded throughout the entire school, hallways and all."

Yang cracked her knuckles, "Watch it."

Jaune held up his hands, "Fine, sheesh, you have a quick temper don't you?"

Ruby squeaked, "Jaune you're gonna die if you don't shut up…"

Jaune turned to Ruby, "You're alive because you're her little sis, right?"

Ruby nodded frantically. Jaune laughed, this was too fun. Just then he heard an annoyed shout of 'Hey, what the hell?!' from none other than his best friend Tucker. Tucker was on his feet eyes practically snapping with fury at Cardin and his team. Velvet's drink had been knocked all over her uniform blazer and she looked miserable and resigned. Shoving the crumpled note back in his pocket, Jaune wiped his face clear of emotion and got up before he began to walk over to where the confrontation was happening. He cackled madly inwardly, this was going to be fun.

Weiss reached for his arm, "Hey don't-"

Jaune shifted out of her reach and strode over, shrugging out of his blazer. Velvet was getting up and Jaune blinked, he could let Velvet deal with them, she no doubt could. Instead Velvet simply brushed off her blazer with a napkin before shaking her head and shrugging out of it. Jaune walked up and held out his blazer, which Velvet accepted with a smile. He turned and promptly walked up to Cardin before punching him in the shoulder with so much force, a loud pop echoed in the hall.

Everyone went silent.

Cardin yelled dropping to the floor, his arm hanging and face tight with pain, "GWAH! What the hell, you freaking psychopath?! You dislocated my shoulder!"

Jaune smashed his foot into Cardin's damaged shoulder and twisted his ankle, making Cardin keen in pain as his shoulder was pulled even farther from its usual spot. Jaune kicked Cardin's face and Cardin fell back face scrunched up in an attempt not to cry out in pain. The rest of Team CRDL moved to defend their leader, Jaune warded them off with a heated glare that promised pain and torture. He looked every bit a cold murder who would slaughter hundreds and not lose a moment of sleep over it.

Jaune kneeled down next to him, "That's strike two Cardin. You see your first strike was insulting me, your second was bothering my friends. One more strike Cardin, and a dislocated shoulder will be like a warm breeze in a sunny field. I will make you beg for mercy or death, whichever may come first. Do you understand?"

When Cardin didn't respond, Jaune kicked him in the stomach, eliciting a wail of pain from the team leader, "DO? YOU? UNDERSTAND?"

Cardin nodded frantically and Jaune walked away, on hand ruffling Velvet's head and the other knuckling Tucker's. Jaune sat back down with a small sigh, and put his head back onto his arms in an attempt to sleep. Tucker and Velvet both followed him with their trays and plates.

"That was a bit excessive, don't you think?" Tucker said, not showing any discomfort.

"You guys get enough crap for being Faunus, I just lessened it by a crap ton." Jaune said, his voice slightly muffled by his arms.

"Thank you, but I could ha-" Velvet began.

"Handled it, but Cardin's not the type to quit, he would keep on going and going. You have the patience of several thousand monks, Velv, but that last thing we need is for you to snap." Jaune chuckled, lifting his face out of his arms.

Tucker shuddered, "I still have nightmares…"

They all shared a brief laugh, despite the hesitant chatter that had started up again.

Then Goodwitch walked in and said, "Mr. Arc, report to Ozpin's Office, now."

Jaune sighed, "Ten-four." He replied getting out of his seat.

Jaune scuffed his boot as he kicked lightly as the carpet in his dad's office.

"Jaune…"

"What's the punishment?"

"…"

"Well…? I know what I did was 'wrong', per se. The question is do I give a damn. I don't. If given the choice to change it, I would change nothing but be more vicious. I don't care what people think of me, you know that, so why call me up here? You gonna give me detention, suspend me from the classes for a bit? Fine. But you already know how protective I am of my friends."

Ozpin simply closed his eyes, he wanted to smile. Jaune's father had been the same way about his team and friends, and often went out of his way to knock heads with the nearest antagonist. Jaune had gained his incredible control from his mother though. The fact that he hadn't beat Cardin to an inch of his life was surprising seeing as Jaune had been ready to kill him from the utter cold and harsh despondency in his eyes. No doubt Jaune had the terror through intimidation technique down through and through.

"Jaune you will have a warning, but since you are my son, I imagine your warning will be a bit … harsher than most…I will make it a surprise, so for now go back to your classes." Ozpin said.

Jaune blinked.

Ozpin postponing a punishment.

Not to mention, Jaune was still getting C's due to attention span assessment in classes.

Ozpin was probably going to force-feed him poison.

Jaune didn't know it would be worse.

The rest of the week passed in relative ease, Jaune had been acting badly but getting top marks, so his grade was just enough to keep him in. It turned out the note had been a request to tutor someone, he didn't know who but it was said to meet the person in the library on saturday at 11:00 am (a fact he kept secret from Yang and the rest of his friends).

Then he finally was going to get some action.

It was time for the physical courses. Jaune was looking forward to these, he had been starving for some actual activity, and he knew the students were leagues above the instructors back at his school. He shifted his weight from foot to foot as he tensely waited for his name to be called while assessing his teammates' and allies' abilities. Yang and Nora were brawlers born to be on the battlefield. That much was given in their attitudes alone, not even counting their battles which also proved that fact as they almost effortlessly blew away their opponents. Ruby speed was mind-numbing, her semblance made it seem like she was teleporting and scattering rose petals with every spin and twirl of her scythe. Weiss fight was like watching a storm of the elements, a veritable honest-to-god tornado of elements attack, shooting dust spells at her opponent. Her glyphs could also be shot into four smaller glyphs trapping an opponent's limbs and suspending them, and Jaune had seen a large glyphs block a nevermore feather barrage, so he knew those smaller glyphs would take a fair amount of power to break. Blake's chain-sickle/ribbon-knifegun weapon was all that and more; the sheath when separated from the blade seemed like a large cleaver-like trench knife, while she could use that in conjunction with the black katana. After-images of her blurred around the arena as she fought, confusing the opponent as to what the hell he was supposed to aim for. Ren acrobatics and speed were more than enough to keep his distance and still get in close to deal some powerful blows, Jaune was pretty sure he didn't even need his twin stormflower weapons to win his fights most of the time. Pyrrha had magnetism to combat with and that in itself made Jaune watch her fight very carefully. When she showed her semblance, it was brief, just the barest flash of darkness would surround her hand as she would redirect an attack to a more favorable spot.

Jaune knew a few tricks with his aura that were completely and totally unheard of thanks to his bloodline. He waited as every student had begun to be called up on stage. Jaune grew wary as he saw the number of students waiting to be called up dwindle until it was just him. He looked around and saw some people muttering and staring.

'Way to go for singling a guy out.' He thought dryly.

"Jaune Arc." Glynda called.

He stepped up onto the arena and drew his sword out of his sheath. Looking around the lights in the room seemed to dim as the spotlight focused on him. He closed his eyes and called upon his aura, which began to stir within his body, sending a thrum though his very being. He scanned the crowd with concern, was this dad's way of getting back at him? He looked at his surrogate aunt who was staring right back at him impassively.

"I do have an opponent right, Ms. Goodwitch?" he asked cautiously.

Just then there was a sound of something whistling through the air and Jaune instinctively surrounded his hand in aura before slashing his hand though the air knocking what was in motion out of the air. It was a stick that went spinning in an arc towards where it was fired from.

No wait, it was a cane.

Not just any cane, Ozpin's cane.

A hand expertly raised caught the cane as it fell to the earth.

Ozpin was stepping into the spotlight.

Jaune groaned, "You have got to be kidding me. You're going to go this far?"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Ozpin said calmly as he walked on to the stage his cane tapping lightly with every step, the blank shock was so large it was almost tangible, "You want to make a bet?"

Jaune sighed, "You really suck sometimes. Do you know that?"

"A lot people have told me that, Jaune, you are nowhere near the first."

"I can imagine, but let's digress and get back on the point. Why am I going to fight you, and what is the bet you are proposing? I need to know the details of this agreement."

Ozpin smiled slightly as he leaned forward on his cane, "You don't want to be a team leader, right Jaune? How about you fight me for that, if I win you have to accept the position, you can complain, but you can't change out. No arguments whatsoever, well I don't want to have to hear them."

The crowd rippled with murmurs.

"He DOESN'T want to be a leader?!"

"He did seem like a slacker…"

"If he was a slacker, why was he chosen in the first place? Ozpin know everything about the people here!"

"Oh man, that kid is gonna get his ass handed to him! This'll be awesome!"

"That kids doesn't look scared, more resigned if anything…"

"Just who is that guy? The scars make him look…different enough, but now Ozpin is about to fight him? Dust, that guy is scary."

Jaune laughed out loud, peals of a deep laugh that made every student look at the teen/young adult as if he were insane, "You're surprisingly quick this time, what hoping you can force me to pull my grades up by nipping my little rebellious attitude so early? Well, I doubt I can win this time, so I think I'll pass…"

Jaune was about to leave when Ozpin continued on, "You beat me or make me concede to defeat, I let you make your own choice when it comes to the choice of who you want to be leader, you can hand it off to anyone or hold on to it. Of course you also get to decide at what time you want to."

Jaune froze.

So that was it, Ozpin would beat him into submission? Great just like old times then. Then again, Ozpin usually was fine with Jaune choosing his own path, he was uneasy enough in trying to explain the leadership choice. Jaune could tell that much about his dad. So why was he doing this? Jaune had never won once against Ozpin, in their most recent spar. Jaune had shown Ozpin he had become a lot better, but even so, he had always ended up battling to stay conscious at the end of one of their sparring sessions.

Either way, Jaune would give anything just to shut his mind up at fight a good fight. He had been having a mildly terrible day, he really needed an outlet.

Jaune sheathed his regular sword in the oversword and pulled the attachment out onto his knight's sword. He took a deep breath as white aura glimmered along the edges of the now black and silver weapon's blade, gleaming with ethereal and pulsating white light. Jaune caught his sheath and changed it into a shield as he calmly walked back toward his side of the arena. He took his stance with his sword 45 degrees from the ground and his shield placed in front of his body. Ozpin drew his sword out of his cane sheathe and flipped his cane in his hand.  
>"<p>

Double-handed? You're going that far this early in? What exactly is going on?" Jaune said.

"Think of this as a little assessment on your abilities Jaune. I want to compare you to as you were before." Ozpin said.

Jaune took a deep breath as he centered himself and glared at Ozpin as he charged.


	8. Chapter 7

Merry Christmas!

-Y.A.R.N.

Jaune feinted around Ozpin and slashed with his blade. Sparks of white and yellow showered the stage as Jaune's strike was countered by the sheath for Ozpin's cane blade. Jaune ducked under a slash and swung upwards with his shield. Ozpin twisted and swung backward, both moving out of the shield strike and attacking. Jaune rolled with the momentum of the shield bash and twirled sideways avoiding the cane as it whipped by him. Jaune jumped forward attacking with both the sword and shield, increasing his rhythm and speed. Ozpin ramped up hisdefense in turn calmly blocking and parrying each and every strike. Ozpin shoved his cane at Jaune's chest as a counter as Jaune shifted sideways and spun around, slashing at Ozpin's back. Opzin rolled forward and spun to face Jaune.

"You've improved slightly, you've really grasped tempo and rhythm." Ozpin said conversationally.

"Yeah well I still got a lot more left to show, if you're interested." Jaune joked.

Ozpin ran forward and began to slash and bash at Jane with the cane and sword. Jaune eyes narrowed as he was pressed on the defense,he turtled and used his shield to deflect one strike and parry with his sword when the other weapon came swinging into his line of view. Sparks flew as their respective weapons crashed together with the intent to kill.

"Whoa..." One student murmured awestruck.

"Remind me not to piss that kid off." Another muttered.

Jaune caught one strike with his boot and pushed off into the air. He flipped back and landed before pointing his sword at Ozpin in a new stance.

Weiss' eyes widened, "That's a fencing stance..."

Jaune drew a few flashing lines through the air, "Alright..."

Ozpin smirked slightly and drew his weapons both forwards. They strode towards each other cautiously and immediately began to attack and swing at each other. Jaune's face immediately showed signs of strain as he could barely use his shield in the fencing stance. Jaune's sword flashed and Ozpin was bunted backwards by a small pulse of aura. Jaune slipped his shield into a sheath and separated the sword into his black oversword and knight's sword.

Ozpin smiled, "You realized it was impractical."

"Of course." Jaune replied, raising a eyebrow "I am not that stupid."

Jaune threw himself forward and began to slash at Ozpin. Ozpin began to block and slash at Jaune with same amount of ferocity. Both of their expressions, were shadowed slightly and focused as they stared at each other. Their blades flashed and sparked as they attacked each other. Jaune leapt over Ozpin and slashed at him twice from the air. Ozpin kneeled under the attacks and spun away from them, getting back into stance.

Jaune landed and slammed both of swords into the earth before drawing his guns from his sheathes, he began to fire at Ozpin with quick bursts of gunfire. Ozpin shifted and spun his weapons in circular motions sending sparks of the heated shards littering the air. Jaune clips ran out and he spun, slamming his guns back into his holsters and pre-placed cartridges, and flicked his swords into the air. He kneeled down and shot at Ozpin again who began to spin his cane and sword faster deflecting the bullets instead of dodging. Jaune sighed and ejected another empty pair of clips before both his swords fell comfortably into his grasp again as he rose up.

Silence filled the air broken only as the spent shells hit the floor and the hiss of steam rose into the air.

Jaune took a deep breath and flipped his left hand weapon –his oversword- in a reverse grip, extending his left arm out, and brought his right arm back, next to his face, pointing his knight's blade at Ozpin. Ozpin sprinted with a spurt of aura, Jaune ducked under his slash and slashed his oversword up to block a swing of his cane-sheath. Jaune spun back and slashed in tandem, retreating yet attacking at the same time.  
>Ozpin pressed on, stabbing and trying to hit Jaune as he back away. Just as he moved in for a stab Jaune lashed out in an instant of pure skill. Stepping in, Jaune used his forearm and directed the stab an inch too far to the side. His blade slid past Jaune's cheek opening a small red line across the flesh. Jaune brought his hilts sideways around into Ozpin's side with a loud *CRACK*. Ozpin grimaced and whipped his cane-sheath up and bashed Jaune across the face. Ozpin spun and slammed Jaune back with the hilts of both of his weapons.<p>

Jaune skidded down on his back and used his forearms to push his skid into a roll that left him on the edge of the ring.

Everybody stared at the aura meters at the top of the ring, a rather large chunk had been chipped off Ozpin's aura bar. His was still well within the green zone while Jaune's aura had dipped just into the yellow zone. Jaune stared at the screen with a wild smile grin across his face, blood dripped from his mouth and dribbled down his chin.

"Got…you…" Jaune panted as he grinned, his tongue ran over his bloody lip, smearing the crimson liquid across the corner of his lip.

Ozpin felt the side where he was hit and winced, it was quite sore, "So you did."

Jaune used his swords to push himself up into a standing position and cracked his neck, "Alright, let's get back to it."

Ozpin smiled and shook his head, "No need."

Jaune frowned and his eyes widened, "Hey now! Don't you even dare-"

Ozpin turned to Glynda who had been watching with thinly-veiled interest, "I concede."

Jaune yelled, "No he doesn't! NO YOU DON'T!"

Ozpin sheathed his sword into his cane and calmly walked off the stage. Jaune stood there utterly flabbergasted, as if he had forgotten this was a match. Suddenly, fury danced across his features and his aura flared along with his temper, glimmering and outlining his weapons and body. People stepped away from the edges of the ring. Jaune's muscles on his arms tense and bunch as he raises his arms almost as if he is ready to attack an invisible opponent. Jaune almost seems ready to slam his blades into the arena at his feet.

He suddenly sighed, and his arms dropped and his weapons' tips touched the floor with a slight scratching sound. Jaune suddenly looked old and exhausted, as if he had age fifty years within the space of a second without losing any of his youth-filled complexion. He blew out a large breath and sheathed both his blades into their respective sheaths. He slid his hood over his face and stalks away, frustration emanating from every line in his body. He swiped his fist across his face wiping away the trickles of crimson going down his face. Without a word he stalked to back of the room.

'Dammit…Dammit….Dammit! ...DAMMIT!' Jaune swore a storm in his head as he crossed his arms and rolled his shoulders, "Dammit Dad, what game are you playing? You know you would've of won had you wanted so why the hell did you quit after I got in one strike? You know I hate it when you quit prematurely like that…'

Waves of malice, irritation, and anger emanating from Jaune made most of the other students back away from his general vicinity. He glared at the floor from under his hood. Then he realized something.

His dad was giving him a choice.

He didn't want to be a leader, his dad didn't care whether he thought so or not.

Ozpin knew Jaune had all the qualities, even Weiss had pointed it out. Ozpin simply cast Jaune as leader because he thought it would be best. Being a leader didn't mean you were the best of your team. You simply knew how to lead them, although Jaune had no idea how to lead at all, Ozpin believed he would learn. Jaune sighed and rubbed a hand over his face while he inhaled, when he exhaled he blew out a thin stream of air through his hands.

Jaune waited for the class to finish and walked over to Goodwitch to get his evaluation papers. He simply folded them and stuffed them in his pocket before going to the locker and picking up his school bag. As he walked out the room he noticed Ozpin leaning against the wall, his trademark cup of coffee in his hand.

Jaune walked next to him and said in a low tone, "I don't really care about how you think I will do, but you're wrong. I should be allowed to pick my place, forcing me into another place I don't want to be in won't work."

With that, Jaune turned on his heel, swung his bag onto his shoulder, and walked away emotionlessly.

Ozpin took a sip of his steaming coffee, "You really can't let it go can you…?"

Ren, Weiss, and Nora all saw the exchange and glanced among each other.

What was with Jaune?

Jaune flipped his pen in between his fingers as he looked over his note sheets and essay he was working on. He bit his lip ignoring the slight throb of pain it gave in response. He scribbled a few more notes onto his diagram and closed his notebook. He picked it up and shifted open his bag. He had just placed his notebook back in, when a brunette girl with glasses stumbled into the seat next to him and placed her sheaf if paper on the desk. Jaune blinked as a few of them fluttered to the floor and the girl groaned.

"Stupid binder breaking…" she muttered.

"Um…you want some help?" Jaune asked holding out a few of the fallen papers.

She snatched them and grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, I am a total klutz when it comes to organization, not to say I can't find the papers I need, but everything is just a giant bundle whenever my binder breaks…"

Jaune chuckled, "I had that problem too."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I fixed it by making sure my binder was in working condition before I started the year. Well that and a whole cartload of duct tape." Jaune said casually.

The girl giggled timidly as she placed a binder with one part completely torn off, "That sounds like a good idea…I wish I had some…"

Jaune rummaged through his bag and pulled out a roll of the grey goddess-made glue, "I happen to have some if you want me to do a quick patch up."

She pushed her glasses up her nose and nodded.

Jaune picked up her damaged binder and raised an eyebrow, "Did you run it through a wood chipper?"

She flushed as he began to fix it.

A few minutes and multiple sound of ripping and placing tape later, Jaune held up the now functioning binder, "Haha! That should do it! That thing should now be able to stand Armageddon, but let's not be too literal about it."

She smiled as she began to place her papers back in, "Thanks. Oh by the way did you get my note?"

"Huh?" Jaune tilted his head like a confused puppy, "Your note…?"

"Yeah from Obleck's class!"

"Wait, you mean the tutoring note?"

"Mm-hmm!" she nodded.

"Oh well, I guess I usually only train on the weekends so I really don't have anything better to do…" Jaune thought about it for a minute, "Ah hell, why not?"

"Oh great!" she cheered.

Jaune laughed, "You're like a mix of my teammate Nora and a Velv…"

"Who?"

Jaune shook his head smiling, "Nothing, it's an inside joke. Oh, by the way, didn't catch your name."

She slapped her forehead, "Right! I am Izzy or Isabella, I prefer Izzy or Iz though."

"Jaune Arc." Jaune said holding his hand.

Instead of shaking his hand, Izzy held out her fist, Jaune laughed and bumped her fist. He put the last few of his stuff away and got up.

"I got to head back, I wanted to sleep in early anyway. Nice talking to you." He said as he waved.

"Likewise!" she called back.

Jaune had another reason for sleeping in early, Jaune hadn't shown anyone how the scars on his face didn't only go to cover his face. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. When he was don with that, he quickly slipped off his shirt and threw on his blue drawstring sleeping pants. He draped a light sleeved white shirt on his head boards and slipped under the covers of his bed. He sighed as he put his arms behind his head and closed his eyes.

Darkness crept along the inside of his mind as he relaxed more and more. Soon he was asleep and dreaming.

He slashed another dark shape in two as they closed on him from all sides, he dropped back and kicked up his foot planting firmly in what he assumed was a creature's stomach. He rotated his waist and slammed his other foot's heel into its skull with a loud crack. Jaune dropped down and rolled back ready to charge when suddenly a wave of heat slapped his face and he looked up. Fires burned around him as the same sinister shaped danced behind a ring of fire that slowly dwindled down. Everything was washed with a burning tone of orange. Jaune glanced at his ground to make sure it was steady and his heart shot into his throat. He was standing on top of a cage. Underneath him, hundreds –maybe even thousands- of hands reached for the top as their owners screamed and wailed. Jaune bit back the bile rising in his throat and suddenly the metal beneath his feet broke and he was falling. The hands began to grab him and tear him, he tried to scream but one of the things slapped a hand over his mouth. He was choking and drowning and-

Jaune sat up with a loud gasp. Sweat beaded along his forehead and his sheets were wrapped around him as he had twisted and turned in his bed. He glanced at his clock only to see it was 3:13 in the morning. Jaune let out a groan, he usually woke up at 5:00. A quick glance had confirmed that everyone else was sleeping and he was the only one who was awake at the moment. He rubbed a hand along his forehead and got up. Jaune shrugged on his sleeved shirt and closed the buttons. He clipped his Crocea Mors and guns onto his pants, and head out for a light snack. The quiet shuffling sounds of his feet were the only sounds that accompanied him as he walked across the floor. Jaune's eyes flicked in every direction due to force of habit. It had been instilled into him to make sure he could see as much as he could so that he would be aware of anyone creeping up on him.

He arrived at the kitchen and fixed himself a bowl of cereal and began to eat the food. Jaune absentmindedly twirled the spoon in his hand as he chewed on the food in his mouth. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. It was so, so maddening at times, to be forced to be a prisoner in his own mind. He quickly wolfed down the rest of his food and sighed swallowed his last bite with a sigh.

He stretched, "AHHHHHHHH…humnah." He jabbered, "Dreams suck so hard sometimes."

He got up and grabbed the bowl and spoon he was using and put them in the sink and ran the tap over them. He didn't feel like training and reading his textbooks would bore him back to sleep. He shuffled back to his room and opened the door only to see Weiss half out of her bed shivering. She looked at him wide-eyed, he could see the fear, then shock, and embarrassment. She looked away and he calmly closed the door and sat next to her on the bed.

"Nightmare?"

She shook her head so hard it was a wonder she didn't suffer from whiplash.

"Oh, me too, mine was just earlier."

She glared at him, but Jaune just gave her a tired smirk.

"I am guessing that if you were in the mood to talk about it, you would be yelling something how I was wrong and what does it matter? Right?"

Weiss made an indignant noise in the back of her throat, and looked away in, blush present even in the darkness.

Jaune chuckled softly, "I bet mine are worse than yours."

She snorted in a very unladylike fashion.

"Cute." Jaune commented with a wry smile.

Weiss flushed and punched him in the arm, and then shook her arm out in pain. Jaune grinned and flexed his arm was covered with glowing white aura.

"Whoops, it was instinctive." Jaune said shrugging.

Weiss grumbled in an annoyed manner.

"Are all you rich and high-class people like this? Cause I swear you are fulfilling the poster child look for trying to sound okay and being prideful about not needing any help at all whatsoever. Which in my opinion is annoying." Jaune said.

Weiss blinked and he got up and jogged to the door, "Well I am going to leave before you figure out I just insulted you."

He ran out the door and sprinted down the hallway; a second later Weiss ran out after him red-faced, barefoot, shrugging into a jacket, and holding a gleaming Myrtenaster. Jaune laughed and picked up the pace, goading Weiss by jogging backwards every now and then and giving her a friendly little wave. She had just about caught up to him when he ducked under her outstretched hand and lightly slapped the back of her head. He would grin like a fool and laugh loudly as he ran in the opposite direction.

Weiss swore when she caught him, he would regret every mocking her.

She didn't even notice she was smiling brightly as she chased him.


	9. Chapter 8

Special thanks to Nokanomi for the antagonist!

Jaune appeared at the breakfast meal that morning, color high and laughing like he had heard the funniest joke. Weiss stumbled in after him, panting and glaring at to which he responded with a cocky smirk. The other members of their team stared at them as they made their way to the lunch table after loading up on food. Jaune began wolfing down his food with surprising gusto. Weiss rolled her eyes and began on her own breakfast.

"Wow, Jaune you must be starving." Tucker commented as he watched.

"Mrgrpmh!" Jaune got out as ate.

"Swallow before you answer, Jaune!" Weiss chastised as she smacked him lightly upside the head.

Jaune swallowed reflexively and put his hands to his throat, choking and gagging on some food he hadn't finished chewing. Everyone began to panic, Ren tried to catch Jaune as he tumbled out of his seat and Nora pleaded with Ren to do something. Pyrrha panicked and scooted away slightly and Ruby gasped in shock. Yang and Blake both stared on in pure worry and shock.

"OH GOD!" Velvet cried.

"JAUNE, HOLD ON BUDDY!" Tucker yelled as he grabbed Jaune and began to do the Heimlich Manuver.

After two or three thrusts on Jaune's abdomen, Jaune coughed out a half chewed bit of bread, "Weiss, the hell?"

"I didn't expect you to begin choking!" She defended.

"You two are a comedy act all your own aren't you?" Yang commented as she glanced at Jaune and Weiss and smiled.

"Shut up!" They both yelled.

Some people began laughing and Jaune slammed his face onto the desk with a muttered, "This is your fault."

Unbeknownst to both teams, one young dark-haired Spanish hunter watched admiring the number of women at the table. His blue eyes scanned over them before a small smile graced his features. Then he glanced at the two boys at the table and he frowned. He wasn't overly worried about the black-haired one, but he didn't like the blonde at all. He was too friendly, and his scars didn't really detract from his looks.

Alvaro Villanueva sipped his coffee and glanced over the rim of the cup, then again he hasn't missed a conquest yet, he doubted he would lose one now.

Jaune put his head on his arms and let loose a huge yawn. Professor Obleck dashed around the classroom speaking at his usual mile-per-minute style. Jaune tapped his pencil idly on the paper, he wanted to go outside. The birds were singing and the sky was a hue of forget-me-not blue. Clouds made their slow tracks across the sky and the wind whistled through the branches of the gently swaying trees. Though there was a few storm clouds on the horizon, he didn't expect a storm to come too early. Obleck discussed more about the Faunus wars and Jaune twirled the pen in between his fingers as he listened absentmindedly. Soon, the class was called out and he began to pack up and made his way to the exit when a person bumped into him.

"Whoa!" Jaune yelped.

"Agh!" The other said.

Jaune straightened and saw a boy with black hair and tan skin on the floor muttering and getting up.

"Sorry 'bout that." The boy said.

"No it's okay. I probably should've noticed you." Jaune said.

Then their eyes met.

Jaune's eye widened as under those blue eyes he saw hundreds of malevolent emotions swirling and shifting. Jaune knew them so well, because his childhood was full of them. The main emotion in his childhood was grief, but there was rage, horror, sadism on occasion, misery, pain, hate, as well as anger. This person's eye had and undertone of anger and malevolence and anger. Jaune almost froze.

"My name is Alvaro Villanueva." The boy said.

"Jaune…Jaune Arc." Jaune said as he quietly shook his hand once.

Jaune walked away and quietly looked at the floor thinking. That was not normal. Jaune glanced at the boy and walked faster down the hall. He would talk to the kid later, he need to go to his next class.

Jaune flopped in his bed without changing on caring to kick his shoes off onto the floor next to his bed. He sighed and put an arm over his eyes even though he stared at the darkness that was the sleeve of his jacket blocking out all light. He was like that for minutes thinking about Alvaro. What was his story?

"…Jaune?!" a voice broke through his thoughts.

"What?" Jaune replied.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked.

Jaune notice Nora and Weiss weren't there, "Where are the girls?"

"I told them you need some time, and I needed to talk."

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "You could tell?"

Ren nodded.

Jaune sighed, "There was this kid, and he reminds me of myself, before and little bit after I was... adopted. Let me tell you, Ren. It's not good, I don't know what I might have done if I had continued down that path..."

Ren frowned, "What do you mean? What were you like?"

"I've only known you for a while Ren…I can't talk about it with you yet…" Jaune murmured, "I'm sorry."

Ren smiled, "It's okay, and everyone has their skeletons. I don't expect you to trust me just like that either. Everyone has some bad secrets."

Jaune smiled weakly, "Not as big or as many as mine…"

Ren nodded and Jaune got out of his bed and went to the restroom. When he got to rest that night, sleep evaded him. Just then there was a light tapping on the window. Jaune looked out to see a light bit of rain pattering out against the window. He blinked and got up. He glanced at his teammates and made sure they were asleep. He slipped out of his sleeping clothes and got into his jeans and a t-shirt. He slung his hoodie on his arm, clipped on his armor and sword, and walked out the door; making his way to the top of Beacon.

Weiss woke up to hear Nora and Ren talking, Nora probably woke her up with her constant chattering about something or other. She yawned and sat up to see Ren was sitting on his bed and glancing at the clock and at the door nervously. Nora was half skipping and half pacing although thinking on it, it was probably normal. Weiss got up and stretched a bit. She looked outside and saw it was raining heavily.

"What's up?"

"Well, it's been-"

"Jaune is missing!" Nora chirped.

"What?" Weiss gasped.

Ren sighed, "Yeah, Jaune isn't here we've been waiting for a while, he might have gone down to the cafeteria, though it might have been a bit early."

Weiss exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding, "Then he is probably getting some food, he eats like a starving man every time he goes there."

Ren shrugged and the three walked to the cafeteria, but Jaune was nowhere to be seen, everyone else was already at their table. Ren grew a bit more nervous and Nora was the first one to ask if anyone knew where Jaune was. Weiss scanned the other tables and the lunch line looking for him. Team RPBY asked why he wasn't there but they had no clue where Jaune could be either.

When the classes started, the rain was still pouring just as heavily as when Weiss had woken up. The class seemed to slow down and even after an hour Jaune had still not returned. Combat classes were about to start and Ren was beginning to get more and more nervous. Nora was beginning to dash ahead at every turn and peer down it as if Jaune were walking up. They may have not been close friends but it wasn't like Jaune to miss out on classes. They walked to the arena hoping he would show up.

Halfway throughout the classes Weiss was biting her lip.

"Is my match about to begin?" a quiet voice said in her ear.

She nearly jumped away and unsheathed Myrtenaster, she looked behind her and saw Jaune, sopping wet and his blond hair plastered to his forehead. She blinked.

"What is wrong with you?! Do you want to get sick? You need to dry off!" She hissed.

"It doesn't matter, I'll be slipping out after my match as it is." He said gently pushing his hair off his forehead.

"Next up, Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna."

Jaune pulled out both of his blades and walked up on stage. His face gave away no emotion and rolled his shoulders and other muscles, small pops and cracks were heard as he loosened up. Some kids snickered as them saw him drenched, others saw how his wet clothes clung to his figure and gawked and ogled. If Jaune was affected, he didn't react. He took his stance and waited for Blake. Blake walked up and held Gambol Shroud at the ready.

When the buzzer sounded, Blake shot Gambol Shroud towards Jaune with all the speed of an arrow out of a bow. Jaune ducked and rolled sideways whipping his knight's sword through the air and blocking the wide swing of Blake's weapon. Jaune ran forward with both of his weapons scraping the floor next to him. Blake tugged her weapon back and Jaune dropped like a puppet with its strings cut as the weapon passed harmlessly overhead. He slid as the water acted as a slight lubricant for him. He leapt to his feet and slashed at Blake with his sword. Blake quickly separated her weapons into her dual blades and began to counter and parry. Jaune aimed a stab at her ribs and she used her semblance, slipping out of range while the afterimage was sliced in half.

Jaune looked surprised and impressed, "Wow, nice switch, that's a useful semblance you've got."

Blake fought a grin, "Is that how you talk to all your opponents?"

Jaune shrugged, "More or less, does it matter?"

Blake herself shrugged and focused her yellow eyes on Jaune. He dropped into his stance as Blake blurred forward and he quickly raised his right arm, blocking a slash that would made a gash in his side. They dueled across the arena. When Blake's strikes were getting too close, Jaune would let out a pulse of aura, throwing her weapons off their intended path. Jaune threw himself into the air over a forwards stab, and Blake threw a high kick that Jaune blocked with his forearm from midair. Every single one of their strikes were chipping bits out of their aura as the match progressed.

Jaune spun sideways the moment he hit the floor dodging a strike from Bake that would have shot through his shoulder. Jaune eyes flashed as he analyzed Blake's style, he made small mental notes about anytime she seemed to overreach for a strike, or a slight pause after using her semblance. After a cross slash, Jaune retaliated with a kick that Blake blocked with the flat side of her sheath-blade. Jaune pushed off the kick and reset his stance. Jaune drew a sigh and began to glow, his body shooting out wisps of aura. Droplets of water made the air shimmer around them almost they were fighting among stars. Jaune slashed at Blake and rolled back as Blake fired at where he had just been standing. Jaune began to long for the cooling sensation of the rain on his face.

"Usually I don't mind drawing fights out a bit, but I have stuff to do so I am going to end this." He said softly, "So I am sorry…In advance."

Jaune sprang forth in a flash, almost on top of Blake as he mounted a furious attack. She blurred out of his reach only to find him inches in front of her as his aura began to bleed with a dark blue color streaking across the pure white that enveloped him. He ducked under a slice and slashed upwards ripping a chunk out of Blake's aura. Jaune felt her blade whip across his face and scrape across his aura. Jaune took the blow and spun bashing his hilt into her side as she moved past, following through into the strike.

She hissed and jumped back only to find Jaune tackle her and grip her arms. He growled and lifted her into the air, eyed the aura meter and slammed her into the ground.

Hard.

Blake groaned and her aura barely dipped into the red.

"Enough! Mr. Arc wins the match." Glynda said loudly.

Jaune offered his hand, "Sorry."

Blake gripped his hand and was hauled to her feet, "Ow, that was a good match."

"It was you almost had me a few times." He said as they both walked off the stage, "I had to step up my game a notch to even be able to match your abilities."

Blake raised an eyebrow, "Really you seemed to be holding your own against Ozpin."

Jaune began to laugh, "What? You thought D-er…Ozpin was serious? That was nothing he can wipe the floor with me several times over and not even break a sweat!"

Blake blinked as Jaune wiped a tear from sheer mirth, "Really?"

Jaune chuckled, "Scout's honor."

Blake rolled her eyes, but a small grin appeared on her face.

Jaune left the class almost as quickly as he came, with a quick request for Ren to pick up his evaluation he began to slip out of the class.

Weiss caught his shoulder, feeling the hard muscle under the damp clothing, "Where are you headed?"

"Out." He replied.

With that Jaune pulled away and walked away. Weiss was tempted to run after him, but right then her match was called up and she hesitated before walking towards the stage.

"Cardin Winchester vs Weiss Schnee!"

Cardin sauntered up, his Mace resting on his shoulder. He eyed Weiss' profile, and liked what he saw, though personally he preferred a little larger assets, he thought her trimmed and lean profile was sexy too.

"Hey babe, how about we have a bet?" He said as they walked up.

Weiss rolled her eyes, unfortunately for her, Cardin thought he was making progress, "If I win we go on a hot date, sound reasonable?"

Weiss turned to him eyes absolutely snapping, "I have one word for you: NO."

"I like them feisty…" he chuckled, "Come on babe, you definitely will enjoy some time with yours truly."

"Jaune Arc kicked your ass and he wasn't even trying. I can make him try and inform you and give you your third strike. Or better yet, I kick your ass now and save him the trouble." Weiss said primly.

"He just caught me off guard, I would have beaten him otherwise." Cardin growled, "And I bet that you co-

"Enough chatter." Glynda said sternly, "BEGIN."

Cardin roared forward swinging his mace in a wide arc in front of him. Weiss gracefully dropped back and activated a fire dust spell. Cardin was blasted back as heat scorched the front of his armor and he tumbled back. He slammed his mace into the ground as he shot to his feet and ran at Weiss. Weiss immediately darted sideways, realizing he had no long-ranged attacks. She blasted him with dust spells, hitting him on all sides with ice, fire, and lightning. Cardin snarled and held his mace closer to his torso as he tried to block the various spells hammering at his aura.

He managed to glance at the nearby aura meter and his rage spiked as he hadn't even done any damage to Weiss and he was almost in the red zone.

"Stop casting those damn spells!" he roared.

He whipped his mace around with surprising speed, blocking a few spells, and threw himself at Weiss, pouring every drop of his aura into his strike. Weiss glared and flicked her blade at the oncoming attack. A shining glyph intercepted the heavy downward strike heading her way as he brought down his mace. The glyphs wavered for a second and shimmered as his weapon seemed to press against it for a second before bouncing off. The instant her glyph faded, Weiss shot forward and with a flourish, jabbed forwards. The blade sparked against Cardin's aura and carved out a divot in his actual armor as well. His aura dropped into the red, and Cardin stumbled back onto his back.

"Enough! Weiss Schnee wins the fight." Glynda called out.

Weiss walked back and Ren sidled up, "Jaune says: Good Job."

She gave him a surprised look, "He watched?"

"Said he couldn't miss it, he especially like how you handled Cardin."

Weiss couldn't hold back the grin, but immediately it smoothed over into a scoffing expression, "He need to be kicked off his high horse, I simply did that."

Weiss and the rest of Team JWNR (sans Jaune) made their way to the cafeteria it was almost dinner. Rain still pounded heavily against the glass and lighting flashed furiously through the sky. Weiss didn't feel like swallowing, her throat felt like it was swelling in anxiety. Why the hell had Jaune not come inside? What if he was hurt and unable to reach them? Weiss stirred her food uneasily, forcing a few mouthfuls down for the sake of nutrition. Ren was in a similar state glancing at the door and cafeteria as if he could find Jaune there. Nora drummed her fingers on the table and was somewhat quiet. Yang was trying to break the tension with Ruby giving what little aid they could. Blake and Pyrrha was occasionally glancing around.

Tucker and Velvet were the only ones who looked unworried at their table, although they would glance out the windows as if searching for something.

Weiss couldn't take it, "Why aren't you two worried about him?"

Velvet and Tucker glanced at each other and shrugged, "He always when it rains, he goes and unless you know where to look you won't find him. He has a reason to do what he does, and Weiss I suggest you think about who you are talking to before saying anything. We have been friends since childhood, we know him well enough to know he will be safe."

"Do you know where he is?" Ren asked trying to divert the attention from a suddenly embarrassed Weiss, "We are all just a bit worried."

"We have a good idea." Velvet said quietly.

"Jaune doesn't like being disturbed though, so don't bother looking, we won't spill." Tucker said with an air of finality.

The intercom buzzed at that time, "All students are advised to head indoors as the lighting is flashing dangerously close to Beacon's high towers, please avoid them."

Velvet began to giggle, and Tucker outright began to laugh, "Oh yeah of course, it was only a matter of time."

"What?" Weiss asked.

Everybody were staring at the two Faunus, "Nothing. Jaune won't come back until he feels like it."

The two Faunus scraped the last bits of food off their plates and got up, leaving. The teams finished their meals and despite their worry went to turn into their rooms.


	10. Chapter 9

busy!

-Y.A.R.N.

Weiss stayed up until Jaune walked back into the room. When he walked in it was about 11:47 p.m., and Weiss was worried (not that she was willing to let him know that). He was soaking wet and his hair was plastered to his forehead, and Weiss blushed noticing how his wet clothes clung to his figure. She sat in her bed and waited, he flicked on the soft desk-light when he missed her sitting on her bed with a scolding and angry expression. He quickly walked into the bathroom and walked out a minute later with his jacket off and in the hamper and his shirt and jeans slightly drier and drained of excess water. He put a towel on his bed and sat down, looking about the room.

He barely even glanced at her and casually said, "Oh hey Weiss, you're up pretty late."

"Of course I am, you weren't back by dinner! Where were you? You've missed out on all the classes except for combat classes!" She hissed, getting up and prodding his wet chest.

Jaune looked a bit confused and indignant, "I'll have you know that I keep ahead of the classes in case I ever need a day off!"

"What if you get sick?" She said, giving up on the educational aspect.

Jaune snorted in amusement, "Weiss, I promise I won't get you sick."

"It's not about me!" She growled before she could stop herself.

Jaune blinked and then grinned mischievously, "Aw shucks, Weiss. I am so glad that you're worried about me like that."

She fought her blush and scoffed, "I don't want to be associated with a team who leader is always slacking off or getting sick."

Jaune smiled and cried dramatically, "Ah your words hurt me so! Why, Snow Angel? What sick pleasure do you attain from my pain?"

Weiss fought down a giggle and rolled her eyes instead, "Oh, be quiet."

Jaune chuckled, "Never. Anyway I am going to take a warm shower so if you could please turn away..."

Weiss flushed, "S-shut up!"

He managed to keep his laughter soft and insulting, much to Weiss' ire.

Jaune woke up on Saturday to see Weiss milling around in the room while Nora bounced on her bed, talking like a machine gun, "Whatarewegoingtodotoday? Whatarewegoingtodotoay? Whatarewegoingtodotoday? Whatarewegoingtodotoday?"

Jaune got up with a small sigh, still keeping the cover on his body so he wouldn't show just how big his scars really were, "What do you want to do?" she opened her mouth, and he interjected, "Please, nothing too crazy."

She closed her mouth, "Aw..."

Jaune mentally sighed in relief, 'Dodged a bullet there...'

Ren stretched out in his bed and sighed contentedly, "Don't mind me, I am fine right here."

Jaune rolled his eyes, "Okay then, Nora you can give Ren some company?"

Ren groaned, "I don't want to get uppp..."

"Then don't, just know Nora going to be right here with you," Jaune said patting Nora's head, "Right Nora?"

She nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah."

Ren gave him a flat glare, "She will force me to get up."

"And my heart bleeds for you, but I am sure Nora won't be too hyper." Jaune said smiling mischievously.

Weiss giggled at the blatant lie, and suddenly put a hand to her mouth in an attempt to stifle it.

"Well I want a hearty breakfast, so see you all later." Jaune said as he put on a white shirt and grey jeans, "Oh, and by the way, Weiss, I heard that."

He clipped his sword to his belt and grinned at her irritated face before making his way out the door.

Jaune rolled back and launched himself on his land as his seventh high-leveled robot he fought attacked with a low kick. Jaune landed in a crouch and launched forward using his sword as a spear as he sank the blade straight through the robot's head. Jaune ripped the blade out of the head and reset as the robot still got back into stance, despite its head rolling away on the floor. Jaune parried and countered not bother to uncollapse his shield or draw any of his other weapons. He grabbed one of the robot's hand as it threw a punch and he flipped it onto the ground, hard enough to leave a dent on the floor.

Jaune sheathed his sword as the robot stopped whirring and walked out of the battle area. He noticed Villanueva fighting with what seem to be a compound double-bladed halberd. He stabbed a robot through the chest and began to unload rounds of ammo into it as he lifted it up, a feral grin on his face. Even when the robot stopped moving he slammed it into the ground, reducing it into a smoking scrap pile. He walked of the stage and Jaune could have sworn he saw Alvaro glance at him with a challenging smirk.

Jaune didn't even double take, he didn't need to enter some sort of contest with this guy, if Jaune was right and Alvaro was like him, Jaune needed to tread carefully around him. He was a wise guy, not confronting Jaune directly but giving subtle hints at a challenge.

Jaune turned his head away and was instantly greeted by the sight of the leader of CRDL.

Of course for every evil genius there was an evil idiot, damn you law of averages.

"Do you want something?" Jaune asked.

"You think you can beat me up, make me a laughingstock, and walk away? I am going to show you that you can't beat me up without consequences!" Cardin growled, heaving his mace onto his shoulder.

Jaune sighed, 'Great a testosterone filled idiot, chalk one up for the stereotypical high-school experience.'

Jaune stepped past Cardin, "I don't have the luxury to deal with people like you. I have places to be. And I didn't make you a laughingstock, I made you an example."

"Coward!"

"Sure."

"Loser!"

"Why not?"

"Idiot!"

"I must be."

"Scarred freak!"

Jaune stopped, his hands clenched. He took a deep breath.

'Ignore him. Ignore him. Ignore him.' Jaune chanted.

"It's not like I am hiding it." Jaune replied smoothly.

"Did your parents out a bag over your head before they kissed you goodnight?" Cardin mocked.

Jaune's anger begged him to give Cardin the third strike. Jaune was feeling like maybe he did give an example.

Several people began to place bets as they saw the two stand at opposite ends of the ring.

Jaune held his hands up in a fighting stance, eyes narrowed and focused.

"No weapon?" Cardin asked incredulously.

"I don't need a hammer to stomp a bug, and I don't use cannons to kill bunnies." Jaune said, eyes glinting with humor.

Cardin let out a yell and charged at Jaune, swinging his mace in a wide arc. Jaune ducked and shifted to the side, shooting his left hand out in a hook; hitting Cardin across the face. Cardin stumbled slightly and drove his elbow out, trying to hit Jaune straight in his face; but the blonde knight deftly stepped out of his range and tilted his head up in a 'that's it?' gesture. Cardin shifted forward and pointed his mace at Jaune, the red gem in the middle of his mace gleamed and shot a burst of fire at him. Jaune rolled to the side and intently watched as the stone's glow seemed to grow smaller.

"An compressed dust gem? Innovative." Jaune commented.

Cardin growled and ran forward, swinging him mace with more speed and higher power. Jaune carefully noted the now increased speed.

'He super-packed that crystal with fire dust... It must have a limit, and he seems to know I've picked up on it.' Jaune back-rolled and kicked Cardin's legs out for under him.

"Haphazard swings won't get you anywhere Cardin." Jaune said, "Focus Cardin."

Cardin snarled as he got to his feet, "Don't tell me what to do!"

Jaune shrugged, "Fine if you don't want my help."

As Cardin lunged forward, Jaune stepped in, raising his left forearm to block Cardin's arm from swinging his weapon. Jaune moved his arm down Cardin's arm to grab his chest plate, and with his right began to punch, back-fist, and generally beat up Cardin's face. When Cardin's face resembled a red and purple mess, Jaune lifted him -armor and all- and bodily threw him against the wall.

Jaune cracked his neck from side to side and turned his cold glare on his semi-scared, semi-furious teammates, "Want some?"

They lost their fury quick.

Jaune sat on a bench outside and unwrapped a sandwich and juice box he had made from the kitchens, the cooks had been surprisingly nice to let him just have some simple meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and works to go along with his bread. He bit down on the sandwich and chewed on it staring at the sky. Jaune took out his head phones and played a song form an anime he rather liked. Listening to 'Ao No Exorcist OST 03- Exorcist Concert Third Movement: U & Cloud', he nodded in time with the song and failed to notice an irate Weiss look at him from a window on the second floor.

"How can he be so laid back?" She grumbled, feeling just a bit jealous of the easy smile gracing his lips.

"Is there a problem Ms. Schnee?" Inquired a voice followed by a slight sipping sound.

She whirled to see the ever-stoic Ozpin looking at her with no expression. Something about that calm and untroubled expression made Weiss angry.

"Why did you make him leader, he doesn't even give commands!" She said gesturing at the blond knight from the window, "He is too laid back! He looks like he doesn't have any trouble at all! I used to think he was a good leader, but he doesn't even try to tell us to do something!"

"It's Saturday, does he have to?" Ozpin said arching an eyebrow.

"Well no but, shouldn't he be at least trying to keep up an appearance of working hard?" Weiss said.

Ozpin almost chuckled, "Jaune is the sort of person who doesn't care how he looks, he does what he pleases when he wants; consequences be damned." Ozpin said, finishing this sentence with a sip from his mug, "He fiercely protective and if you have any problems with what he is doing, just talk to him about it."

Weiss blinked, "Seriously?"

"I rarely joke Ms. Schnee." Ozpin replied.

As Weiss squared her shoulders and walked away, Ozpin chuckled to himself.

Jaune finished the last of his sandwich and was wondering whether he should see of the library had any good reading material when Weiss walked over to him, mouth set in a slightly angry pout. Jaune snickered when he saw her, but stopped when she stopped right in front of him, face now set in a hard expression. She stared at him long enough for him to take a long draught of his juice box.

"You need to be busy."

Jaune blinked, "Excuse me?"

"You're lazing about! Don't you have something to do? AT ALL?" she said gesturing with her arms.

Jaune glanced around as if this was some sort of joke, "No…? I told I kept ahead of the workload right?"

She huffed and plopped down on the bench next to him, a frown on her face. Jaune looked at her and leaned back on the bench, she really looked like a princess, the way the soft golden light of the sun, made her hair shimmer. Heck even the frown on her face was adorable. Jaune shook his head, what the hell was up with him? Weiss was beautiful, it's not like he didn't notice before; he just hadn't internally monologue on it before. Weiss noticed him shake his head.

"What?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing, just wondering why you seem so tense." He lied easily.

"I am not tense!" she retorted.

"Well you wouldn't find me and comment about my lack of activity if you were calm, so you have to be riled up about something or tense." He said, sipping at his juice box.

She glowered at him, "You're wrong."

"If that's the best argument you can make, then I win." He said, grinning at her.

She promptly punched him in the shoulder.

"OW!" he yelped.

She smiled a little as he rubbed the area with his hand, "That should teach you to -agh!"

That last bit of her sentence was prompted by a flick to her forehead, courtesy of Jaune Arc. He laughed and bounded away from the bench.

"You ruffian!" she growled.

"Ruffian? RUFFIAN? Was that seriously the best adjective you could find?" He chortled.

"Shut up!" She yelled, beginning to chase him.

Jaune took one look at her face and that was all it took for him to burst out laughing. Her face turned pink and she pulled out her sword.

"AAARRRCCC! GET BACK HERE!"

Jaune patted Weiss on the head, and she swiped at his hand irritably.

How the hell could he keep sprinting for so long? It was insane! He had simply jogged at first goading Weiss, and when she knew if she just lunged forward she could hit him, he would dash away. This had been going on for the better part of an hour, until finally Weiss' legs gave out and she collapsed. He instantly stopped laughing and rushed over and knelt beside her. She tried to wave him off but he ignored her protests and picked her up and carried her to a nearby bench. He had rubbed her legs until they didn't feel like they were full of knots and noticed she was sleeping.

When she woke up an hour later he was leaning against the back of the bench and glanced at her noticing she was awake. She immediately asked how long she was asleep for and Jaune shrugged and replied with a vague 'one or two hours' response. She had gotten up and Jaune had gotten up and walked with her not even looking like he had been relaxing.

Jaune chuckled, "Weiss, learn to relax a bit; I know you've been busy, but it isn't a bad thing to be able to sit down and rest, and I don't mean sleep." He added as she opened her mouth.

"Idle hands are the devil's playthings." She quoted.

"And whoever said was either an idiot or hadn't ever REALLY relaxed." Jaune said.

"How are you not bored?"

Jaune pulled out a book with a golden 'Arc' scrawled on the front, "I read a lot."

"What is that?"

Jaune stopped and looked down at it, his eyes misting over, "It's… one of the last things I have of my father."

Weiss didn't know how to respond, but Jaune quickly broke out of his reverie, "It's nothing important anyway."

Weiss opened her mouth to argue when she bumped into someone. That someone happened to be Yang, who had been walking down the hallway, not looking up. They both nearly fell back but Jaune caught Yang's and Weiss' shoulders.

"Hey careful now!" he admonished lightly.

"Thanks." Yang said.

"It's no problem, but shouldn't you be paying attention?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, but I am thinking of a girls night sort of sleepover thing, and I wanted Weiss to be there." Yang said.

Jaune -eyes dancing with mischief- said "Oh. Well, here she is." Jaune pushed Weiss forward and said, "Have fun Weiss! Parties are for fun, I hope you know that!"

With a cheery wave he walked around the corner, and left the two girls alone. Yang slung an arm over the heiress' shoulders and steered her toward Team RPBY's dorm, discussing mostly how much fun they would have with this. Weiss tried to say she would be busy, but Yang would have none of it. She simply told Weiss that she had better clear up some time for it or else things might not be good for her.

Weiss paled, she was woefully aware of how Yang could spread rumors and knew that if Yang wanted to, she could very well make her life terribly complicated.

And that was how Weiss found herself (a week later) in team RPBY's bedroom, in her nightgown, forced to play truth or dare. The first part of the party hadn't been too bad she sighed as she had gotten lucky most of the time. She had been picking truth whenever it came to Yang, just to be safe.

"So Weiss..."

"Truth."

"Are you a virgin?"

Weiss' face flushed with color, "Of Course! What gave you the idea otherwise?"

Yang shrugged and grinned, "Oh nothing, you're just fun to mess with."

Weiss huffed, "Whatever, who's next?"

The game continued for two whole rounds when it landed on Weiss again. Just as she was gonna say truth, Yang interrupted.

"You have to say Dare!"

"What? Why?!" Weiss said.

"You used truth way too many times! Unless of course...oh yes, I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Weiss asked, a healthy amount of wariness in her voice.

"You're scared!"

"What?!" Weiss growled indignantly.

"You know that you could never do an actual dare, you are just too scared! Who would have thought that the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company is actually scared of something as little as a dare!" Yang parroted.

"That isn't true! I am not scared!"

"Prove it!" Yang said half-smugly, half-challengingly, "Prove to me that Weiss Schnee isn't scared of something as little and trivial as a dare! Unless you can't, in which case I can totally accuse you of being sca-"

"FINE, I PICK DARE!" Weiss finally said.

The room was silent as everyone processed what Weiss just said. Weiss immediately was horrified by allowing herself to be tricked by Yang.

Yang fist-pumped triumphantly, "Yes! Okay then, I dare you to sit on Jaune's lap at every possible moment! No matter what! For a week!"

In the stunned silence, the door was quietly knocked on, and Jaune voice rang through the wood separating him from the girls, "Look, I am glad you guys are having fun, but please, keep it a bit quieter, Ren and I can't sleep!"

Yang grinned at the horror-filled look on Weiss' face, "You want to invite the man in?"


	11. Chapter 10

This chapter is a bit shorter but I felt I covered everything that I wanted to, and my writing deteriorates when I try to expand something beyond what I feel is normal.

Sorry!

-Y.A.R.N.

Yang giggled at Weiss' mortification and bounded to the door, pulling it open and grabbing Jaune's arm, "Jaune! Just the man we need!"

Jaune, much to his chagrin and surprise was pulled inside by Yang, Ruby and Blake, "Guys, what the hell?!"

He noticed Weiss looking at the ground with her face flushed, and Jaune knew this was a bad sign. He glanced around wondering if there were any traps or hidden launch pads. Jaune closed his eyes; he was about to go into his Ozpin mode and demand and answer when a weight settled on his lap. His eyes snapped open to see a particular heiress sitting in his lap.

"Weiss?! Wha-"

"Yes, I am sitting on him." she grumbled, glaring at the people in the room who were trying not to laugh or blush, "PROBLEM?!"

Jaune face was turning red fast, and was fast approaching the hue of the Schnee heiress' blush.

"Now stop staring. Nothing to see here." She said staunchly trying to retain her pride as she shifted slightly on the blonde knight's lap.

"Uh…Weiss?!" Jaune said, his hands raised as if to pick her up and mover her away, his face was the same shade of red as a rose, "Please stop fidgeting."

"No." was her reply.

Yang was smothering her snickers and flat on her back her legs kicking helplessly at the air as she tried to breathe. When she regained some measure of control, she grinned.

"Enjoying yourself, princess?" she asked.

Yang was rewarded by a scowling and embarrassed Weiss clenching her eyes shut and forcefully saying, "Sh-shut up!"

Jaune had regained some measure of control and looked to the side fighting his blush down with an audible sigh, "This is making things hard…"

Yang grinned lecherously, "Like what, Mr. Knight? Perhaps something is a bit harder."

Everybody but Jaune got the innuendo and blushed, Jaune tilted his head and suddenly his eyes widened in understanding.

So much for keeping himself from blushing.

"NO! MONTY OUM, YANG! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT?!" He paused -taking a deep breath- and looked at the rest of the women assembled, "Can someone give me a recap on what led to this… position?" he asked, gesturing at the heiress situated on his lap.

"Well basically Yang irritated Weiss up into choosing dare while playing truth or dare, so Yang dared Weiss to sit on your lap all week whenever possible." Ruby explained quickly.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Weiss, please tell me it was more elaborately planned than simply 'irritating you'." Jaune said.

"Shut up!"

Jaune sighed, "You realize this is going to cause me trouble when working right? Or being anywhere around her."

Yang smiled, "Yup! I don't have a counter-offer, so you have to deal, Jaune."

Jaune sighed and lifted Weiss off his lap before he placed her on the floor. He got up and walked to the door before pulling it open.

"Well I won't take it sitting, Yang." Jaune quipped as he left.

Jaune was half-convinced he had the oddest dream, he was of some sort of situation that forced Weiss to sit on his lap and Yang was behind it. Jaune shook his head, as he got up.

"Hey Ren, did I actually get up to tell the girls to be quiet?" Jaune asked.

Ren mumbled something along the lines of, "Yes, now shut up."

Well shit.

Jaune hopes were shot down quickly.

Weiss was sleeping in her bed and even Nora was on her 'off'…For now.

Jaune got up and took a five minutes shower, as he came out he toweled his hair and walked over picking out a fresh set of clothing for the day ahead. Jaune wasn't aware he was being watched. Weiss hadn't wanted to get up, but when she heard the shower run she had opened her eyes and when she saw Jaune's bed empty, she put 2 and 2 together. When he walked out she averted her gaze and snuggled deeper into the pillow. After a moment of indecision as two parts of her mind waged war, she glanced at him and had to bite down on a horrified gasp.

Jaune's face had scars.

She was okay with that, she had a small scar but it gave her a small sense of understanding.

She knew she could HANDLE that.

But this was hard to wrap her head around.

Dark jagged marks made their cracked path down his neck and back, spider-webbing out from the ends like black nerves across his skin. Traveling over his shoulder blades and showing marks like lightning – continuing until they had disappeared under the waistband of his jeans. She knew without a doubt that the marks were probably mirrored on his torso as well, and that meant that head literally been cleaved THROUGH and survived. His body must have been no bigger than a nine year-old's when he got that if it had sliced THROUGH him so fully! His aura was probably his only thing that kept him alive, and he may not have even noticed its colossal and simply staggering amount of potential power.

To be able to heal him after that? That hadn't even crippled him.

She was able to break out of her slight daze as he slipped on his signature orange shirt, hiding his chiseled physique and jagged scars from her eyes. Jaune turned to look at her and her eyes snapped shut, hoping, PRAYING, he hadn't seen her ogling his body. Not that it wasn't worth being looked at. He had more than enough muscle to be strong, but was leaner and more agile that people would think that when he would initially approach them. Weiss buried her face into her pillow and groaned.

Damn you and your physique, Jaune Arc!

Jaune was forking his omelet into his mouth, chewing with a bored expression as he added some more ketchup to his food. Right then Yang walked up and plopped herself right in front of him.

"Sooo, Jaune." She said.

"Sooo, Yang." Jaune replied.

"Where is Weiss? Should your ice princess be here and I don't know, living up to her bet?" Yang said gazing around the room.

Jaune smirked, "It seems she hasn't been able to make it to breakfast. I will definitely have to check on her later, too bad. Looks like the week will pass without any good material for you, Yang."

She grumbled, and tried to get a rise out of him, "You such a scaredy cat."

Jaune flinched dramatically, "Oh no, it's my shadow! Save me, Yang! Ahhhhh!"

Yang groaned, "You're pretty good at verbal play."

"I had to pick up how to defend myself, and sometimes words are more damaging than blades or guns could ever hope to be." Jaune said, his voice turning a tad stern under the humor, "You need to know that, Yang."

She blinked, "How do you do that?"

"What?" Jaune said as he took another bite.

"Change your demeanor and stuff."

Jaune took a quick gulp of milk and said, "I am a really frank person, Yang. I say what's on my mind unless I have to deceive someone. Usually I talk about things I have gone through or have seen, and it affects how I look at them."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "Hope you don't mind me asking but when people talk about your scars…"

Jaune sighed and scraped the last bit of his food into his mouth as he got up, "You wouldn't understand. See you."

Jaune slammed Tucker into the floor and blocked a vicious kick from Velvet. He used a pulse of aura to knock her away.

Jaune grunted as he jumped back, "Damn Velv, you only got stronger."

Velvet didn't respond but smirked as she spun a roundhouse kick. Jaune grinned as it came and raised his arms into a boxing stance as he ducked under and used his left side to step in. Using his aura to power his strike he launched a heavy left jab into side and switched swinging his right into her ribs. Velvet's eyes scrunched shut as her face contorted in pain. She collapsed and fall to the floor, Jaune winced; he shouldn't have put too much force behind that last blow. Letting out a war-cry, Tucker attacked Jaune with a myriad if jabs, hook, kicks, and sweeps. Jaune eyes narrowed as the moves started to become sloppy with his rage.

"TUCKER." Jaune said, "CALM YOURSELF, HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO AVENGE SOMEONE IF YOU LET YOUR GRIEF AND RAGE IMPAIR AND CRIPPLE WHILE YOU'RE FIGHTING?"

Tucker let out a huff, but his blows became sharper and slightly faster. Jaune stuck out his left and raised his right hand's guard in an emulation of Muay Thai. He grabbed the back of Tucker's head and slammed his knee into his stomach, Tucker let out a pained gasp and stumbled back. Jaune dashed forward and clocked Tucker in the jaw with a right straight. Tucker -face twisted in pain- hurried to set his guard back up. Jaune moved out of his stance and ran forward, arms loose. Tucker backed up and threw several straights until Jaune's fist flashed across his face. Tucker hissed, it was like someone had whipped him. Jaune jumped into the air and threw a spinning roundhouse that slammed into Tucker's temple despite his guard. Tucker collapsed.

Jaune landed and blew out a breath, "Phew! You guys are…uh guys?"

Velvet was still curled up on the floor and Tucker was out cold.

"Ah dammit!" Jaune panicked.

Jaune was leaning against the wall next to Tucker and Velvet's beds, "Sorry guys I got carried away."

"It's fine." Velvet said, wincing.

"It's not!" Jaune retorted, "How am I protect people if I can't control my own strength?!"

Jaune sighed and rubbed his face against his hand, Tucker slapped him upside the head, "Shut up, Jaune. You just have trouble not losing yourself in battle during practice, we get that. You are a combat junkie, we are still your friends, and nothing'll change that although the roundhouse to my head was a bit much."

Jaune sighed but grinned, "I know, but I don't know why I have these random moments where my body's power goes into flux like this… It's like having a river that dams up at a certain point and begins to push out more aura alongside the amount I want to add…It's just kind of frustrating."

Velvet reached out and took his hand in a show of care, "Jaune maybe you should to talk to your dad about it, do you think that he could help?"

Jaune shook his head, "He remembers my father could do a few thing with his aura but his aura never had this problem, the only problem my father ever had was trying not to hyper-burn through his aura since he had so much. My father tended to be irresponsible like that and apparently it drove my mother mad. I never really had a problem with those practices."

Jaune was about to sink into his memories when he and Velvet nearly jumped out of their skins at the sound of Tucker's fist meeting the flesh of his pal and him yelling, "THAT'S IT! I KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO FIX WHATEVER THE PROBLEM YOU'RE HAVING IS!"

"How can he/I fix it?" Both Jaune and Velvet asked in unison.

Tucker's brainier moments sometimes led to more trouble than help, like the last time he had a good idea, they somehow managed to flood the third and second floor of the school they had been going to.

Good thing Jaune managed to get them out before anyone realized what had happened.

Tucker pointed at Jaune, "You haven't practiced your aura to your specific needs Jaune!"

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean."

"You went after the common problems that your father and Ozpin went through with their aura, you never checked out what problem you may have. You aren't your dad or father, you're you. You're Jaune Arc, use your family book to see if it is a problem, or consult Ms. Goodwitch to see if it has something that a few people have to deal with, then whichever one it is, you train yourself until you have the problem under control." Tucker said, finishing with a proud smile on his face.

Jaune and Velvet stared at him until Jaune spoke up, "You know Tuck, there are times when I am absolutely convinced that you are an incurable idiot or moron, but then you decide to give me a brilliant plan or idea, and I have to hold back on that opinion until you do something stupid again."

Velvet burst out giggling, only to guffaw helplessly as Tucker sputtered angrily and begin to chase Jaune around the room.


	12. Chapter 11

Jaune sat down on a log with a towel perched on his shoulders, he took a sip of water from his canteen and stared at the scene before him. Trees that were cut into splinters were littering the ground and leaves were sliced in half. He had basically been using his aura to slice through trees, leaves, pretty much anything that could be manipulated into a target. Since he was not using his sword the results were mixed, this was supposed to help him manipulate and focus his aura to the point where he wouldn't overload his aura or underload it either. Control was always a bit hard for him to grasp, he could restrict it to the point where he wouldn't kill someone accidentally, but meager aspects of control, such as adding minute amounts here and there to influence the damage amount, seemed to evade him.

"I really hope I can get done with this, I can't afford to drag anyone down." Jaune mumbled as he leaned back on his hands the log, "Maybe I should pick up some more aura practice books from the library.

When Jaune walked into the hall, he waved at his friends and grabbed a sandwich and soda before walking out of the cafeteria.

"What's up with Jaune?" Ruby asked worriedly.

"He hasn't been eating alot has he?" Pyrrha followed, glancing at where the knight had left.

Ren frowned, "He has been saying he isn't all that hungry, but I agree..."

Weiss sighed, "He only doesn't sit here because the dare from the slumber party hasn't ended yet, he told me so himself."

Yang grinned, "Oh, when did tell you? Eh, Snow Angel?"

Weiss glared at her, "Two things Yang. One: don't call me that. Two: We were simply talking on the way to class."

Yang only seemed to grin wider, "I didn't think you cared what people called you. Offended that I am using Jaune's nickname for you?"

If Weiss hadn't fully expected Yang to try to annoy her, she may have given into the goading, she wasn't and simply replied with a exasperated whatever, "Whatever."

Yang laughed.

Jaune's nightmare wasn't particularly new, just the same things.  
>But it was the most painful.<p>

The seemingly endless rain, feeling him with a flood of pain and sadness; threatening to choke him under sheer cold.

His old village members withered arms and rotted hands reaching out to take him down alongside them. Screaming and howling at him for failing, for being unable to save anyone. Grating words of failure and what he will fail to save and achieve against his ears and soul.

"Everything you love is forfeit."

"You can't save anything, let alone anyone."

"You failed us."

"You don't deserve to be alive, you should have died."

"Why did you live?"

Fire swirling and threatening to encompass him whole as it swallowed the world around him, roaring down to crash over him in a wave of heat and pain.

Red-eyed monster slashing at him, gouging out pieces of his flesh, maybe the monsters were grimm, maybe they were demons, he was still unable to fight back.

And blood. Always the gleaming red of blood.

It hurt.

Weiss hadn't expected to see Jaune's nightmare, she had simply gone to get a glass of water, just when she was settling herself back in her bed, when she heard the faintest whimper. She rolled over and saw Jaune's shoulders shaking and his breaths coming in weak gasps and pants. She quickly rolled out of bed and went over to his bed carefully, to his credit, Jaune was instinctively muffling his noise into his pillow. Weiss bit her lip as she approached, Jaune's eyes darted under his eyelids as his face twisted in agony. Sweat was beading along his forehead and Jaune bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed slightly.

Weiss couldn't take it anymore, he gently shook his shoulder, "Jaune? Hey!" She hissed, face reflecting her worry.

Jaune stilled slightly, but didn't awake. One of his hands pressed against his skull as if he had a headache and his eye squeezed shut. Weiss toucher his shoulder in another attempt to rouse him but before she could speak up again, he shot up in his bed gasping, eyes wide and glimmering with unshed tears. He ran his tongue over his lip and grimaced when he no doubt tasted the blood from his lip. He glanced around the room before seeing Weiss touching his shoulder, he jolted slightly in shock. Weiss lowered her hand and placed it in her lap.

"Weiss." He said, voice throaty and unclear.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

He shook his head as if to clear it, "Am I dreaming or are you really here?"

Weiss huffed, "You're awake."

He grimaced slightly, "Then I'll be fine. You should go to bed Weiss."

Weiss blinked as he promptly flopped back onto the bed and turned away from her and huddled under the covers, without any explanation.

"Your not going to explain what was causing you so much pain?" She prompted.

Jaune heaved a plaintive sigh, "There is nothing to explain, it was a nightmare, Weiss. They aren't exactly calming."

Weiss bristled, and snarked,"So you expect me to just forget I saw you like that? Nightmares can get bad, I know that first hand, but you looked like you were being tortured! I can't just drop it and forget!"

Jaune's reply was infuriatingly simple.

"Yes you can, and you will."

Team JWNR wake up wasn't exactly as rowdy as usual. Jaune had already left and was probably in the cafeteria. Weiss was unusually silent as she got ready, mid going over what she had learned from her leader from the previous night. Ren was quiet and only occasionally replying to Nora as per the usual. Nora was bouncing around the room urging everyone to hurry up so they could catch up to their leader. When they left they still hadn't seen Jaune in the cafeteria, though Team RPBY was already there, Yang telling them he had grabbed a sandwich and milk before leaving. Weiss scarfed down a meager breakfast and went to the classroom only to see Jaune sitting against the classroom door with half a sandwich hanging from his mouth. He was flicking through some assignments from his scroll and glanced up briefly as Weiss walked up.

He nodded in greeting and went back to typing on his scroll.

"Why weren't you in the cafeteria?" She asked immediately.

Jaune shrugged.

Weiss huffed, "You're not acting like this because I saw you having a nightmare? Are you?"

Jaune just stared at her with a "did-you-really-just-that?" look for a moment before sighing and taking a gulp of milk as it helped him swallow his sandwich.

"The only reason I am not talking is because honestly, there isn't much to say." He said.

Weiss slid down the wall to sit next to him, "So you aren't embarrassed at all?"

Jaune smiled nostalgically and handed Weiss the other half of his sandwich, "Tuck and Velv have already seen it, it don't go around screaming about it, but I honestly don't care if people find out. If I should be embarrassed about anything, it would be about how long I have been having them."

Weiss snorted in an unladylike fashion, "That's nothing to be ashamed about, you've had to deal with losing everything, you can't just wipe it away."

"Mmmmm..." Jaune hummed thoughtfully, "I know ... Do you know that I haven't been there?"

Weiss paused mid-bite of her sandwich and glanced at him, "At all?"

He nodded, "I made a promise, to myself... Once I accomplish something, then I can go back there and say a final goodbye."

Wiess looked at him, Jaune was staring at the ceiling, his blue eyes swirling with emotion.

"What was the promise?" Weiss asked.

"... Maybe one day I can tell you." Jaune said as he got up chugging the last bit of his milk and brushing the crumbs off his lap before offering his hand, "Now come on, it's almost time for class."

Weiss took his hand and pulled herself to her feet.

Jaune listened to Peter ramble on and he quietly began to sketch in his artist's notebook in class. Jaune never knew exactly why, but he always found a measure of peace in working with the arts. They calmed him and often allowed him to think through any problem he was having in his head. He absently sketched until the class finally ended and Jaune got up.

He paused and waited for Weiss, "I gotta say, i don't feel like going to any of my classes today...i just don't want to put up with any of it."

Weiss scoffed, "You should see the lessons with my private tutors back home, they make these classes a cakewalk."

Jaune glanced at her before stretching, "Be that as it may, you were still prepared for the classes then. The only things i really look forward to is the combat, i have to pay attention in Obleck's class because of Iz."

Weiss raised a eyebrow, "Who?"

Jaune looked at her, "You remember that note? Well I am tutoring a brunette named Iz, she's pretty bright and a hard worker." Jaune said, smiling fondly, "She'll go places, of that I am sure."

Weiss frowned slightly, "You seem pretty close, you been having dates with her?"

Jaune almost tripped, "What? No!" His small outburst garnered some attention and he hastily quieted down, "No. Jeez, Weiss, way to blow something out of proportion in less than a few seconds, I am just a tutor, she's a friend and classmate."

Wiess inwardly smirked in an odd sense of satisfaction, "Sorry, I didn't mean to be offending."

Jaune waved off her apology, "Nah, it's no problem, just a bit surprised. I didn't know you were into gossip and relationship gossip at that."

Weiss flushed, "I am not! Don't go making things up!"

"Sorry, snow angel."

"Lunkhead!"

Jaune had been practicing alone with his aura control using quite a few tips from various books that he had been reading, and while they helped to a minute degree here and there in improving his control, overall he was still having trouble restraining too much of his aura bleeding into a strike. He winced as he sliced straight through a relatively thick tree trunk. He had already cut a small clearing in the woods and sat upon the new stump he had made. He glanced at the night sky before sighing.

"I guess I have done all I can..." He murmured.

He wasn't tired but he really didn't want to stay out any longer than he had to. With a small sigh he got up and walked towards the building in the distance. Jaune almost paused when he heard a rustling sound from a bush. He glanced at it as he passed but kept on moving, he chalked it up to an animal or something. He heard the barest clink of metal and whirled slashing his hand through the air. A shard of metal that was headed for his back, broke in half and both pieces flipped into the air as it made contact with his aura-enhanced hand. He didn't say anything but caught the metal as it fell back to earths and flung them at the bush. He heard two loud clangs and a flash bang rolled towards him.

Jaune eyes widened and he snapped his eyes shut and threw himself sideways as the flash-bang erupted with a loud crack and flooded the area with light.

Weiss was only looking for Jaune because it would be problematic if the team leader was caught late and outside of the dorm in the training fields. She wasn't worried about the blond-haired leader one bit. When she saw him, she hadn't expected he to throw himself to the floor in what seemed to be a random move. Then she saw the flash of light and she had to squint and saw a dark shape advance on Jaune with a gleaming red knife held overhead.

It was going to KILL Jaune.

Sudden fury and desperation SCREAMED through every inch of her veins.

Weiss raised a glyph and shot forward, drawing Myrtenaster, but even with her increased speed, she clearly saw that wouldn't reach the attacker in time.

She prayed for a miracle as she still tried to move faster.

She didn't need to.

Jaune caught the attacker's wrist and flipped the assassin, slamming it into the ground, forcing the attacker to drop the knife. Twisting its arm, Jaune grabbed the back of the attacker's shirt and hurled it into a tree. Jaune whipped out his swords and spun them in his hands and held them. The attacker drew a serrated red blade and angled it in a defensive slope.

Jaune's eyes had been closed throughout the entire motion. He opened his eyes and Weiss was relieved to see his sea blue eyes, blazing with focus and intensity.

"Well now, that's new, a would-be assassin, wonder what you could possibly want with me." Jaune said almost, sardonically amused.

Weiss skidded to a stop, "Jaune?"

He didn't glance at her, "Weiss step back, this is my fight."

"But-" she was about to protest.

"WEISS." Jaune said quietly, "DON'T."

The attacker ran forward.

Weiss gulped, but instead of doing nothing she whipped out her scroll, scrawling a message out.

The attacker charged at Jaune and Jaune ducked under a swipe and the battle was on.

Ozpin was getting ready to finally turn in when he got a beep from his scroll. He sighed and his shoulder slumped, he really hoped it wasn't something he missed.

Or Glynda telling him he made a mistake in something, those messages were always overloaded with reprimands and you-need-to-keep-your-head-on-straight's.

He turned the scroll on and saw he had a message in his priority box, from Jaune's team. He blinked, Jaune wouldn't send a message even if he was in trouble, and his teammates barely even knew him. Nonetheless, Ozpin read the message.

"Red-bladed assassin attacking Jaune?!" He read.

The scroll slipped from his hand and Ozpin was in a flat-out sprint and out the door with his weapons, before the device hit the floor.

"Not them..." Ozpin growled frustratedly, "Why would they expect a different response this time?"

Jaune cartwheeled back and sliced upwards, warding off the attacker before he could strike. Jaune then rushed forward and began to attack at even higher velocities than when he had been fighting Ozpin. The attacks were clearly not as strong, but much faster and disorienting. The attacker was simply being overwhelmed with the sheer amount of blows that were flashing his way. Red splattered the stones as Jaune didn't even slow an inch in his assault, when the attacker dropped his guard for just a second, Jaune struck. He rushed in and slammed his oversword hilt into the attacker's forearm and broke it with a loud crunch. Not wasting a minute, Jaune hooked the wrist and hilt of his other hand behind the attacker's head and smashed his face in with headbutt. As the attacker stumbled, Jaune emotionlessly sliced the person's torso and the attacker dropped as a gash spurted blood over Jaune and the floor.

"So, what business do you have here, or was my last response not to your family's liking?..." Jaune said, striding forward and ripping off the person cowl and mask.

Dirty-blond hair spilled out from the figures face as he glared with Jaune with obvious contempt and envy. He had lighter blue eyes, but rather than water they were like chips of ice reflecting the sky. His figure was more lithe and speed oriented than she originally had thought. He looked up just as the moon broke free from the cover of the clouds and the sudden moonlight lit his entire face up.

Weiss gasped.

Jaune scoffed.

The teen looked like a slightly different version of Jaune as if he hadn't been scarred by his past in a literal and figurative sense.

"...Eh, little cousin?" Jaune said.


	13. Chapter 12

Jaune stared down at his cousin, who glared at him. Jaune kicked his cousin in stomach, and his cousin gasped and fell back, trying to keep his body from bleeding.

"Jaune! You're going to kill him!" Weiss gasped.

"So?" He replied.

That one word stopped Weiss cold, "Jaune…?"

Jaune glared at his cousin and pulled some gauze out of his back pocket, "Be thankful Weiss is here otherwise you would die, I would have made sure of that."

He wrapped the bloody gash on his rasping cousin's abdomen and bandaged his other wounds. Just as he finished bandaging one of the last cuts, Ozpin arrived. His hand was clenched on the cane as if he were ready to draw his blade out. He scanned the clearing before seeing Jaune and Weiss. He visibly relaxed even from Weiss' view. He strolled up to Jaune and put a hand on his shoulder.

A moment of silent communication passed between Jaune and Ozpin.

Ozpin sighed, "Take him to the infirmary but restrain him."

Jaune scoffed, "He knows better than to try anything right now, I'd slaughter him."

Weiss blinked and Jaune turned to her, "Well come on, after we drop this idiot off we hit the hay, alright?"

Later that night, Jaune was sitting in his bed going through his textbook and marking certain thing in his notebook. Weiss lay on her bed staring at him. For the moment, the only sounds were the soft breaths of their teammates, the scratching of his pencil across the pages, and the occasional random noise of nature.

"You know, staring is rude." He quipped after a while.

Weiss flushed but sat up, "I don't get it."

"Get what?" he said, putting his books down after dog-earing the pages.

"That guy was your cousin right?" Weiss said.

Jaune tensed, "No. We are not family."

"But you said-"

"Weiss, we are not family. We will NEVER be family. Family doesn't abandon you! Family doesn't find out you're alive and throw you away because they think you're just an extra mouth to feed! Family doesn't leave you to an orphanage and pretend to acknowledge and worry about you when you actually turn out to be a prodigy!" Jaune growled, his voice getting louder with watch passing second.

His fist were balled into white clenched hands, his entire body trembled with the force of his emotions.

Weiss was almost afraid to speak, "Jaune… what is his name?"

"Arthur, Arthur Legan Arc. He comes from my father's side, his brothers and sisters." Jaune growled softly.

Weiss waited as the silence pressed around them.

"I'm sorry." He murmured tiredly, "I shouldn't have snapped like that."

He looked old. Like his body was weighed down by something that he would never be able to take off no matter how much he wanted to.

Weiss was silent until, "Hey Jaune…"

"Yeah?"

"Does a family still love you even if they don't show it?"

Jaune turned to her, "What do you mean?"

"My dad wasn't exactly… very open with his affection, but he always said he was glad I was his daughter. He always said I looked a lot like my mom, but sometimes I feel that he doesn't care."

Jaune thought about it staring at the moon which gleamed from the window, "Some people aren't the best at expressing… their feelings. They try, but often they end up looking like they don't care. I am sure your dad loves you, he let you become a hunter didn't he? He could have restricted you but he didn't, letting you have the freedom of your own path, right?"

An unbidden smile twitched at the edges of Jaune's mouth as he thought of Ozpin. Ozpin wasn't good with words, but he didn't need to be, ruffling Jaune's hair to annoy him, patting his shoulder, or even just smiling at him. Jaune knew Ozpin considered Jaune his son, and Jaune felt the same exact way about his dad.

They were family.

"Jaune?"

Jaune snapped out of his reverie, "Hm? Sorry, I zoned out."

Weiss lips twitched upwards, "You do that a lot."

Jaune chuckled and threw his hands up in exasperation, "I know, it actually is rather annoying, and I am the guy doing it!"

Weiss stifled a snicker and Jaune poked her forehead.

"Hey!" She yelped.

"Don't smother your laughter, let it ring in the air." Jaune flopped on his bed with a sigh.

Weiss looked at him, "Tired?"

Jaune sighed, "You don't know...even a bit of it." Jaune got up and began to unbutton his nightshirt, "I am heading out."

Weiss stared at him, "But it's past curfew, you'll b-"

Jaune walked into the bathroom, "I won't get caught... At least, not by anyone who'll rat on me."

Jaune soft footsteps echoed in the hall. He was dressed in his classic black hoodie and jeans.

"My mind is a damn mess right now." Jaune grumbled, hands shoved in his pockets, "When will they get the message I don't want to come back? I was never even there in the first place..."

He made his way to the hospital wing and pulled open the door shutting it softly behind him. He walked over to the bed his cousin was laying in. His cousin's face was bathed in moonlight as he stared out the window at the moon. Jaune dragged a chair to the far wall from the bed, and sat in it facing his cousin.

There was silence. Their faces glowed in the muted moonlight that bled through the thin curtains.

"Well?" Jaune began.

"...What?"

"Hand it over."

"Why should I?"

"Because we all know, you're going to hang around like an annoying fly, grumbling and groaning over whether you should give it to me. You ultimately will hand to me, and we both know my answer." Jaune said, leaning back in his chair, "You've run this goddamn charade dozens of times and every single time it's the same thing. I beat you up and send you back."

Arthur pulled a scroll message at Jaune. Jaune caught it and read it over.

"Same as last time." Jaune sighed, "Your parents are idiots."

"Shut up! You wouldn't know greatness if it bit you! You refuse to be a part of the family legacy that any self-respecting Arc would follow! You're the idiot!" Arthur yelled.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Jaune said waving his hand in an offhand manner, "You said all this before."

Jaune read it and typed his response, "Okay, there. You can leave whenever you're ready." Jaune got up and looked at him, "Oh and if you decide that it would be worth another trip to annoy me, I will rip off your arms and beat you with them, got it?"

Jaune walk out the room and left.

Weiss woke up to sunlight floating through the room. Jaune was sitting in his bed dozing lightly. His mouth was slightly open and a pen was hanging loosely form his hand. His blonde hair was flaring with the gold sunlight. Weiss giggled at how defenseless he looked while he slept. He mumbled she quietly picked her scroll and snapped a quick photo. The next thing she knew Jaune was yawning and stretching.

Weiss hurriedly stashed her scroll and saw him rub his eyes, "Mornin'" he yawned sitting up and clasping the blanket to his chest.

"When you'd get back?" Weiss asked.

"Where did ya go?" Nora asked practically bounded of her bed.

Jaune glanced at Nora, "Nora why don't you go wake up Ren?"

"Okkaaaayyy fearless leader!"

Jaune sighed as he grabbed his nightshirt and slipped it on, "Damn I forgot to get the leadership changed, well I can't really be bothered today, it's too nice outside, plus I have tutoring later."

"Tutoring?" Weiss asked, then she remembered, "Oh yeah with that Iz girl, right?"

Jaune looked mildly surprised at this, Jaune glanced up before chuckling mildly, "Oh yeah right, I forgot to tell all you guys, I have an hour tutoring gig with this girl named Izzy."

Ren shrugged, "Explains where you've been for an hour every Saturday."

Weiss blinked, "Mind if I watch, she sounds interesting."

Jaune made his way over to the bathroom, "Just another first year, she's pretty smart and nice, you should meet her sometime, so yeah I guess you can join."

Weiss nodded.

Jaune slipped into his usual seat at the lunch table as he began scooping some warm cereal into his mouth. He sat with his chin propped in his hand and swallowed his cereal as he finished chewing. Nora was still choosing what to eat and Ren was chewing on some bread. Weiss was with Nora.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby called moving over to his table, she waved at Ren who, nodded in her direction.

He smiled, "Hey Ruby, what's up?"

She sat down and began eating, "Not much do you have any plans?"

"I have tutoring at 10, but other than that, I usually just train and laze about." He answered with a shrug.

At this point Yang, Blake and Pyrrha joined him at the table.

He grinned, "Hey guys."

Tucker and Velvet sat down at Jaune's sides he punched Tucker lightly in the shoulder, "Good to see ya, and you too Velv."

Velv mock pouted, "Why am I always mention second?"

Tucker grinned, a mischievous glint lighting up his eyes, "Maybe because I am just so much awesomer than you!"

Velv huffed, amusement glinted in her eyes, and "You wish you were half as awesome as I am!"

They both squabbled, and Yang rolled her eye as everyone began to chuckle, the thought was pretty much the same between all of the people, 'God those two need to get together.'

Then they stared at Jaune, he sighed and hurriedly ate the rest of his breakfast before responding, 'What?' He glared exasperatedly at all of them, 'Those two are denser than rocks!'

Right then a voice broke in, "Hello Jaune."

Jaune froze, humor in his face dying a swift and painful death, he turned to see his evilly grinning cousin.

"Why the hell are you here?" He hissed standing up so fast that the table shook.

Tucker and Velvet turned and saw who it was, they both stiffened and glared at Arthur.

Arthur flicked off some dust off his shoulder pads, "If you must know, our family-"

"Your family! I don't associated with bastards like you!" Jaune snarled angrily.

Arthur huffed, but continued on heedlessly, "-decided to enroll me here in the hopes of convincing you to come back to where you belong."

"Was my message not clear enough?" Jaune said mockingly, "Idiocy seem to run down your branch of the family."

Arthur eyes flashed angrily, "As eloquently put as it was, our family isn't going to 'fuck off' Jaune. You'd best accept that sooner or later, you will be brought home."

Jaune smirked coldly, "Yeah as if your bitch-ass skills can do shit about it."

Everyone at the table was frozen (except Tucker and Velvet), they had never heard Jaune swear so much in a single exchange. Arthur temper visibly flared and he pulled his hand back slightly getting ready to jab Jaune in the stomach when there was a loud crack.

He looked down to find Velvet's foot against his ribs and he yelled in pain, "You little bitc-"

He didn't even finish as Tucker's fist crashed against his jaw and he was sent sprawling.

Jaune laughed, "You alright cuz? You just got your ass handed to you."

"Shut up you freaking bastard!"

Jaune put a hand over his heart, "Oh! Oh my poor heart can't take such language!"

Arthur grumbled, "I wish."

"Who the hell are you, you look a lot like Jaune!" Ruby blurted.

Arthur scoffed for a second before composing himself, "My name is Arthur Legan Arc. This daft idiot, of a cousin is the only reason I am here, otherwise I would rather be at home learning from my private instructors."

Jaune sighed and sat down, "Here we go, enjoy listening to how much of a disgrace I am guys, I am out." Jaune said as he got up and left, Tucker and Velvet following him out with a glare in Arthur's direction.

No one had noticed how the lunchroom had gone silent.

It took all of about ten minutes for Teams JWNR and RPBY to want to strangle Arthur.

He said Jaune was unworthy of his bloodline, how a spoiled child like him could so blatantly refuse his family's summons. How he didn't know true pain and he was a slacker. Everyone knew there was no way he couldn't know true pain, the flash of exhausted despondency and pain that sometimes flitted through his eyes proved that. He looked like a haunted man, unable to let go of a past that nearly killed him. Ren's hand were twitching as though he was about to draw his stormflowers, Nora had a dark look on her usually cheerful face and she glared and cracked her knuckles, Yang was expelling body heat that wasn't normal, Ruby was almost vibrating with anger, Blake had her book in front of her face to hide the angry scowl she was hiding, Pyrrha was just about ready to turn him into jackass-on-a-stick, and Weiss had gripped Myternaster so tightly, she just might have dented the hand to the contours of her hand.

Yang broke first - (which was really not surprising) and using her aura - literally lit him on fire.

He began to scream and drop on the floor rolling before activating his own aura and pushing the flames off of him, he leveled a dark glare and opened him mouth ready to curse, but Ren had elegantly flipped over the table and dropped a scissor-kick that had sent him skidding across the floor. Weiss flipped the chamber to ice on her sword and flicked it in his direction, causing him to be frozen to the floor. He broke his restraints was about ready to brawl with all of them when Goodwitch came in and waved her crop threateningly.

Weiss, Ren, and Yang were about to be assigned detentions when Jaune who had run back in hearing a commotion began to tell her it was his fault. Arthur protested and said the two teams were insane while said teams were yelling it wasn't Jaune's fault.

Generally the larger part of the entire cafeteria was silent, but the arguing parties were loud enough that Glynda snapped.

"Quiet!" She barked.

Everyone hushed.

"Who saw what actually happened?" She demanded.

Villanueva stood up, "I did."

He calmly made his way over, "All I know is that Jaune left before the fight actually started."

Jaune glared at him, everyone else stared at the two.

Jaune sighed, "Still this altercation was my responsibility. I should have told my team to ignore him, and yet they didn't die to my lack of forewarning. I'll take full responsibility as team leader."

"Hey wait a minu-" Yang began.

"Yang, shush." Jaune cut her off.

Glynda gauged Jaune. She had known him since he was a boy, and though she wouldn't like to admit it, she looked at him like a nephew. The look in his eyes had always made Glynda worried. But she had noticed that even within the few weeks in Beacon, the pain was slowly ebbing and fading. She inwardly grinned, glad that Jaune was doing better - healing, even if it was just a bit - ever since he got here.

"Are you sure you want to accept full responsibility?" Glynda asked.

"For everyone but that idiot over there." Jaune responded pointing over his shoulder at Arthur.

"Shut up, you ass!" Arthur growled.

"Language." Chided Glynda.

And that was how Jaune found himself cleaning desks and wiping down chairs while Arthur was stuck in the great outdoors weeding plants. Jaune stifled another laugh at the look of indignant rage when he heard what he would be doing. He was about to spew some bullshit about being below an Arc's dignity when Jaune slapped a hand over his mouth and told him to shut up and here he was a mere student.

He almost threw a tantrum over that.

Port was grading papers whole keeping a focused eye on Jaune's progress, just to make sure he wasn't slacking off, he offered encouragement, "You, my boy, are a diligent worker! Not to mention Ozpin was practically singing you praises."

Jaune shook his head and smiled, "We both know he doesn't do that Peter, he just smiles a lot and mentions that I am a good kid."

Peter rumbled a laugh, Jaune couldn't help but laugh with mirth.

That's one thing Jaune appreciated about living with Ozpin, along with getting a dad, he had uncles and aunts in the form of teachers.

Jaune laughed as his friends reprimanded him for taking all the blame. He shrugged and said it was worth it, he didn't care about physical labor. Nonetheless, they all glowered at him as he rubbed the back of his head and chuckled nervously. Right then they rounded the corner to the lunchroom and he noticed four familiar boys against the far wall.

And Izzy.

Cardin was leaning over a quivering Izzy as she clutched her bag close to her chest. He was grinning and bracing his arm on the wall, effectively trapping her.

Jaune waved his friends on and made his way over.

"...t wasn't really an option, little miss." Cardin said, "Fork over the assignments or else-"

"Or else what Cardin?" Jaune cut in smoothly.

Cardin whirled, "You?!"

"Yeah me, you harassing my friend?" Jaune growled menacingly.

Cardin backed away, "N-no...We..."

Jaune grabbed Cardin and stared at him, "Let me tell you something. You want to actually make it far in the hunter gig? Learn to do the goddamn work yourself. You don't learn how to deal with different grimm, you die. You do stupid plans that haven't worked in the past, you die. You don't learn how to use dust, you die. So let me offer you this warning, I will spread word the word that if anyone gets even remotely bullied by you, they should come to me. You bully anyone, even someone I haven't met, but I find out? I will rip out your guts and rearrange them, and then we will see how you like shitting out of your mouth, got it?

Cardin nodded frantically and dragged his team away.

Jaune turned to Izzy, "Hey Iz-"

He was promptly glomped by the girl as she gattling-fired "thank-you's" at him.

He blushed a furious red and patted her awkwardly on the back.

Several people were leaning against the wall and peeking from the corner at the two embracing each other.

"Ohhhh, Weiss you've got some competition!" Yang giggled.

"SHUT. UP." Weiss couldn't completely smother the scowl, she didn't even understand why she was mad.

"They look cute..." Ruby and Pyrrha cooed in tandem.

"I know!" Squealed Nora.

"Why am I even here?" Ren said.

"I know!" Hissed Tucker.

"Shut up and let us girls have our girl stuff time!" Velvet growled.


	14. Chapter 13

After the altercation in the hall outside the cafeteria, Izzy slipped into the group without any real friction - Weiss bristled slightly - but other than that things were fine. Jaune politely told Yang to back off with the inappropriate comments after Izzy literally hid her burning face under the desk after one of Yang's comment.

"Yang seriously-" Jaune tried to stop her from another remark.

"What's wrong Vomit Boy? You should have introduced us to your friend...who just happens to be a girl...who you happen to tutor every Saturday for an hour or two...when you two probably aren't studying all that much~"

"Yang, enough." Jaune voice was beginning to grow sharp.

"One last one?" She asked, grinning.

Jaune glowered.

"Fine," She sulked, "but on a slightly more serious note, she was asking you to tutor her in Obleck's class?"

Jaune sighed and explained to Yang for what seemed to be the umpteenth time, "It's not so much tutoring as it is checking over her notes and explaining a bit, I don't assign any work or stuff..."

Iz finally decided it was safe enough for her to eat her lunch, "Seriously..."

Yang grinned but held her hands up in a surrendering manner when Jaune shot her a warning look.

Either way, Iz conveniently turned out to be a part of Team VICTor along with Velvet and Tucker and another girl named Casare. Jaune shrugged but was unconcerned, it didn't matter; so long as there was no real friction between the teams he was fine. Of course life was never simple. He had unwillingly been forced to be a gossip receptacle (thanks to the simple question of what's up to Yang and a rather uncharacteristic remark about gossip from Weiss [and she knew he hated it]) when he learned of Villanueva growing reputation of being a heartbreaker, and how team WAVE was beginning to get sent out on missions. Jaune's anger begged him to kill his cousin, and although Jaune had no real qualms about the request, he had to be an upstanding member of society.

Damn.

Curse you society...

Team JWNR soon got a mission, and it was at that time Jaune was convinced his life was some sort of cosmic joke.

"What the hell do you mean that the mission was specifically paid and made to be a joint mission between Teams JWNR and WAVE?!" Jaune yelled at his dad, slamming his hands on the desk and probably alerting anyone within several yards of his - for lack of better term - hissy fit.

Jaune was bristling like a cat at an oncoming dog when Ozpin had given him the escort mission file. Jaune knew who had paid and exactly why he was being forced to put his team on this mission. His 'family' couldn't take a hint? Was 136 (Jaune had been keeping count) times not enough to get a message through their thick skulls?

Ozpin sighed, his son was no fool, "I know, but the school board governors have been paid off as well and demand this mission fit all requirements and be pushed through. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop this."

Jaune growled and muttered, "Why in the hell are they so stuck on this?"

"You are a powerful person Jaune. Whether you like it or not the family is desperate to make sure you consider them allies as you would be a powerful tool."

Jaune clenched his fists, "I am no one's puppet."

Ozpin sighed and took a draught of his coffee, "They couldn't care less."

Jaune was wearily reading through the mission file as his team readied their supplies. Everyone glanced at Jaune, everyone could feel the restrained anger boiling under his skin.

Ren was the first to speak up, "You alright, Jaune? You're..."

"Yeah, I'm... Okay... Just, I hate having to deal with my extended acquaintances, they abandoned me to die and then expect me to jump into their arms." Jaune grumbled, "You can see they don't particularly like me either, you saw how Arthur talks about me. It's like mixing fire and water."

Ren grimaced, "I know, i'd like to think we're friends" (Jaune smiled at that) "and i think I can tell enough about you to know he has no right to say those things about you. We all know you lost something, you haven't told us - excluding Weiss - but we can assume it's something bad. We won't pry, but just know, we've got your back Jaune."

"Yeah! If someone makes fun of you or bullies you, I"ll break their legs and arms!" Nora piped in, hefting her weapon.

Weiss said only one thing, "It goes without saying, partners support each other."

Jaune smiled brightly, "That means alot guys thanks."

Jaune walked out with the rest of his team trailing behind him, it wasn't going to be a hard mission but it was going to be a tedious one.

Jaune could never stand being around his sanctimonious and insulting cousin for more than ten minutes, and that if he was being laid back,,,and if this Villanueva fella was in the same team...

He was so screwed.

Team JWNR loitered in the hall for five minutes before Team WAVE made their appearance. Arthur had his red sword strapped to his back and wore light armor that wouldn't restrict his movements. Alvaro had worn straps of black cloth over his usual getup that attached pads of armor to his uniform. The two other teammates were sauntering forward, keeping position behind the two in front.

"Hello..." Alvaro said reaching out a hand for a handshake.

Jaune forced a natural smile and clasped his hands firmly, he moved to Weiss and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand, much to her apprehension. Arthur moved forward and smiled mockingly at his cousin, Jaune didn't even twitch in a reaction. The two other introduced themselves as Wilium and Erisk.

Jaune cleared his throat and began a small thing he wanted to get out of the way, "Before we get started, we need to elect a group leader, you need to have a majority or an overall larger vote than the rest of the nominees to be elected leader. Personally, for all I care, you can elect this idiot (points to Arthur) to Nora if you want. Just make sure you know said person will be able to lead the team effectively. You can vote twice, as following standard low number voting procedure. Also, you CAN NOT vote for yourself."

Arthur strode forward confidently, "Well? No point in delaying the inevitable, I'm first and might as well be last."

This opening got him two votes from his group, at least until Alvaro eyes glinted with indecision before he shook his head and put his hand up. Erisk and Wilium both got zero votes, neither of them look disappointed or unhappy, merely accepting. Villanueva got three votes, one from both Erisk and Wilium and one from Arthur (while gazing speculatively at the boy). Nora shook her head and bounced in her seat and Ren was given a nod from Nora and Villanueva, followed by Weiss who got one vote from everyone in Team JWNR. Jaune stretched and strode forward and got a total of five (Ren, Weiss, Nora, Erisk, Wilium) much to his surprise and Arthur's consternation.

"What?!" Arthur spat, red-faced and furious, "Why would you choose him over your own team leader?! Can't you all see he is only going to lead this mission to a failure."

Erisk shrugged, "He has a way about him that makes me think he will be good fit for being the leader of this little op."

Wilium followed up, "I don't particularly care who leads this mission, I just want to get back here safe and sound with the mission complete."

Ren tilted his head and smiled lightly, "I trust him a hell of a lot more than I trust you, he is my leader and besides he already got the most pressing issue of whose lead to follow out of the way."

Nora smiled, "Jauney is like a awesome older brother! Besides you insulted him and was a total jerkface!"

Weiss scoffed, "I highly doubt your abilities to do anything right, you are overconfident of your ability to lead and probably haven't given any real planning aside from the fact that we have to escort a delivery and act as guards."

Arthur flushed as his teammates watched with wide-eyed amazement and amusement at the verbal barbs fired. Arthur opened his mouth, no doubt to intervene and fire back a rejoinder to Weiss assessment when Jaune intervened.

Jaune stood up, "Listen Arthur. I have it recorded on my teammates scrolls messages which were sent to Ozpin stating that I am the leader of the mission. I will not tolerate any and attitude. You have two options, you either listen, or you will be written up for dereliction of duty and be punished accordingly. I don't give a damn if you want to act like a spoiled rich snob - which you are make no mistake - but you need to understand one thing. You. Are. Not. Better. Than. Anyone. Because. You. Are. From. The. Arc. Family."

Arthur somehow scowled and sneered at the same time, "You have no right to say that."

Jaune raised an eyebrow,"Why would you say that?"

Arthur growled an answer, "Because you are a member of said family, and you act all high and mighty. You think you,re better than anyone, don't you?"

His teammates stood up - ready to protest - but Jaune waved them off, "Are we really gonna start this here? One, I don't act high and mighty to the best of my knowledge, though to be quite honest, you're in no position to comment, considering you act like the world should be groveling at your feet. Two, I'd much rather get started on the mission rather than tell you - once again - that I am not a part of your family."

Arthur huffed, ready to respond, but Jaune had already turned away and gestured for everyone to get moving.

The mission seemed simple enough. It was a simple make-sure-that-the-cargo-gets-to-where-it-should-be-with-the-least-amount-of-damage-possible escort mission. Unfortunately the supplier had decided to go off road in order to shorten the amount of time it took to get the drop-off. Jaune had all the positions covered as well as he could with his team members and supplies. He would take point and hopefully intercept any forward opposition. Weiss would be at the middle since she was the closest thing to a long range fighter they had with her dust spells. Ren and Nora would be covering the left and right while Jaune concentrated Team WAVE in the back. He didn't have a very good judgment of their abilities and aura semblances other than Arthur's which was summoning a set of glowing aura shards to coalesce into a set of sharp weapons. Either way he was hoping Arthur wouldn't go against his orders, but knowing him, it was almost guaranteed to happen. Jaune simply hoped having the rest of his team there would give him the illusion of being in control.

The cargo was a shipment of healing dust that was supposed to be shipped to the intensive care unit of a nearby hospital, the mission was supposed to take a week at most.

'A week, huh...' Jaune mused, 'It can't be that bad.

"Remind me to slaughter Arthur when we get back to Beacon." Jaune grunted as he slammed another bandit into the ground using one hand.

The other bandit - who he was speaking to - was about to slash his unprotected back until Jaune slipped his gun out of its holster and a bullet punched through the bandit's side and he fell with a shout of pain. Jaune whirled spinning his gun in his left hand and twirling his knight sword in his right as he face three more of the sudden group that had descended on the convoy of dust. Jaune spared a glance at his teammates as they fought their own battles. Ren ducked under a roundhouse and slammed his open palms into the chest of another bandit before a burst of his pink aura sent the attacker flying into a tree. Nora was laughing and Jaune couldn't bring himself to hate the poor, poor souls who were running and screaming as she chased them with her massive hammer raised. Weiss rained fire, ice, and lightning upon the hapless idiots who thought that the heiress was easy pickings. Jaune quickly dispatched his trio of opponents and moved to the back of the convoy he was leading.

"I hope they are holding up..." He muttered, most of the goons he had to face were slipping in from the back, and there were never enough to beat him, he was sure it was planned by his cousin.

He was pleasantly surprised to see Team WAVE holding their own against their wave of bandits. Arthur's swordsmanship was uniform and crisp, a single sword style at capitalized on piercing through an opponent's defense through use of relentless attacking. Erisk was using a bronze whip blade and slicing shimmering lines in the air and through the bandits as they tried to defend against the unpredictable trajectory. Wilium spun through his opponents with loud cracks as he wielded a ivory and silver three-section staff. Villanueva spun his two-bladed war scythe as he sent sprays of red splattering the ground. Jaune grimaced.

"Try not to kill them you fools!" Jaune roared angrily.

Villanueva paused to sneer for a fraction of a second before cleanly decapitating a bandit, "Why? They would kill us, personally, I think it's better them than me."

Jaune scowled, "Because then we are nothing more than them, killers who feel no remorse."

Arthur shrugged as he stabbed another attacker through the chest, "I agree with Villanueva. They can't beat me, they pay the price by dying by my hand."

At this point the bandits has been scared off and scrambled away before they could lose anymore members. Jaune critically eyed the members before stalking away and sheathing his sword. Jaune typed in the propensity to kill in the profiles and mission report. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he tried to forget the wide-eyed looks of those who knew they were going to die. Weiss hopped down from her position on the top of the convoy and walked up to Jaune as he sat on the hood of one of the cars

"What happened?" She inquired.

"Arthur and Villanueva killed a multitude of the bandits. The ground has been pretty much been given a new paint job." Jaune sighed.

Weiss gasped and bristled with rage, "WHAT?! They killed them? I'll admit they were aiming to kill us, but they didn't need to die! Your cousin and his teammates don't deserve the honor of going to Beacon!"

Jaune remained impassive, "Personally, I agree, but we have to finish the mission first, we can deal with ethics later."

Ren walk towards them clearly unhappy, "I take it you saw what they have done?"

Jaune grunted.

Nora bounced over, fortunately she hadn't seen the carnage in the back of the convoy.

The mission was almost over, after the initial attack, the bandits seemed to have backed off and told everyone else the same. That wasn't to say the problem were over though. Arthur's began to stroke his already over-inflated ego as he bragged that he knew those bandits would be scared off by him. Jaune would be have to tell him to shut up whenever he would begin to become unbearable about his boasting.

Then he found out Weiss was the Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company after overhearing Weiss asking about the Dust supplies.

Oh man.

He began to flirt with her on every occasion, trying to make it into her good graces. If anything, this only pissed Weiss off, he was labeling her based on her name, not who she was. She had taken to sticking around Jaune as Arthur had seemed less inclined to try something with him around. Frustrations compounded when Alvaro began to do the same thing, though with much more subtlety, not enough to go under Weiss radar. Jaune had verbally snapped at them to leave her alone when she began to grow sad or even began to frown. Ren and Nora proved to be very helpful in the matter and were constantly heading off any attempts to spark a fight while Jaune and Weiss weren't around.

Jaune head snapped up from where he was taking a nap and glanced around, his breath coming in quiet gasps from his most recent nightmare. Nothing was different except for the quiet thrum of the engine and the slight bumps on the road. Jaune stretched and tried to relax but his mind kept forcing him to be awake, unwilling to surrender sleep to a nightmare. He sighed in annoyance and climbed to the too if the truck that contained the dust. Weiss had been taking the watch and she blinked when she saw him quietly heave himself up onto the roof of the truck.

"Hey." He greeted quietly.

"Hi." She replied.

Jaune walked over and sat next to her dangling his legs over the side of the trick and staring at the moon shining brightly in the sky.

Weiss glanced at him, "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Jaune shrugged, "You know I can't, well at least not normally."

Weiss nodded, "So you had a nightmare?"

Jaune nodded.

Before he could talk, Jaune felt a certain feeling wash over him and permeate the area.

Bloodlust. Pure and potent, it saturated the area as whatever (whoever) was approaching drew nearer to the convoy despite it moving.

Jaune whirled, drawing his sword and whipping his head from side to side as he rapidly scanned the area.

Weiss was on her feet in an instant, Myrtenaster drawn and poised to strike, "Jaune?! What's wrong?"

Jaune grimaced as he heard a sound coming from the forest, "Weiss tell the convoy to pick up speed and move, I think this is a family call."


	15. Chapter 14

Jaune jumped off the convoy and landed on his feet. The bloodlust was definitely focusing on him. He tuned out Weiss' protests as the convoy and concentrated on nothing but the feel of Crocea Mors' handle grooves fitting under his hand and the shield expanding on his arm. The bloodlust abruptly vanished as the convoy melted into the night. Jaune took a deep breath and set himself into his ready stance.

A object – which turned out to be a dustbike – seemed to materialize out of the shadows before a man got off and advanced, a war axe – black and intricately designed although not unlike Professor Port's – strapped onto his back. He was wearing a black travel cloak, dusty around the edges and obviously having seen better days. He face was obscured by a dark hood but his mouth was visible and it was set in a neutral line. As he approached he looked up and Jaune could see the twin gleams from his eyes.

"Well, well, well… It seems like they were correct in assuming that you would sense me, of course, with the amount of bloodlust that I was radiating…Well either way, nice to finally meet the estranged family member that I have heard so much about."

Jaune bristled, "You're a member of the Arc family?"

The man smirked, "Of course. Do you think that they could send any freelance group of mercenaries or other filth? No, this is a family matter."

Jaune scowled, "How many time do you idiots intend to keep this up?"

The man drew back his hood and rolled his shoulders, the dark cloak slipped off his shoulders and flowed onto the ground like a dark waterfall. He wore black armor that was strapped onto his torso and greaves made of a gleaming black metal strapped to his arms and legs.

"As many times as it takes, I might as well be frank with you, you are no fool. A united front – especially with a promising young man such as yourself – will be beneficial to the Arc family status. We have no intention of leaving you alone till you accept." He said cheerfully as he drew his war axe, "And since I imagine we will be good friends when I drag you back, my name is Davidus Arc."

Jaune spun his blade before sliding it in his oversheath, "Screw you."

There was a burst of purple aura and Jaune instinctively rolled back just as the war axe slammed into the ground where he was set. Jaune blinked.

'Holy crap.'

Jaune suddenly found himself blocking a flurry of heavy blows and sending them sliding away and retreating as he desperately tried to keep from being gutted. He jumped over a slash and brought his sword down in a flash over white aura. Davidus grinned madly as he swung his axe and blocked the strike and white and purple aura flashed. Jaune pushed over and off the axe and flipped behind Davidus, landing on his feet. He swung his shield and it hit against the blunt end of the war axe with a shower of sparks as Davidus grinned like a maniac.

"That wasn't bad, but you can't beat me like this!" He roared, bunting Jaune back a couple of steps.

Jaune gritted his teeth and suddenly saw the sharp end of the axe whistling through the air and making a path that would meet Jaune's neck. Jaune twisted sideways, spinning from a stand to feeling the cold sting of the blade press against his neck and almost break the skin as he spun away. He pulled his sword back and struck forward only for Davidus to block again with flash of aura and stop the strike dead. Jaune didn't try to overpower hi this time and instead moved in, crouching and sliding his blade under the block and swung his hand forward as he hilt bashed Davidus in the face.

The bastard barely flinched.

Jaune jumped back immediately and watch in slight disbelief as Davidus cracked his neck and spat a bit of blood onto the ground, "Is that really all you can do?"

Jaune knew that he wasn't going to win a power struggle against this behemoth.

He collapsed his shield into a sheath and slid it into a specialized strap onto his back made for the sole purpose of holding his sheath. He separated his glowing blade into two individual blades, his knight's blade and oversword. He crouched and shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet and began to slowly slink sideways like a panther cornering prey. Davidus stood eyeing Jaune and spinning his weapon in one head before firmly gripping it in both of them.

Jaune burst forward with spurt of aura-enhanced speed. He was nowhere near Ruby's speed with semblance, but if he had to he could at least defend himself from a flurry of that speed, so he was confident he could chip away at Davidus long enough to bring him down with a heavy blow once his defenses were sufficiently worn down.

Never that simple. Well, at least not for Jaune.

As he threw a slash at Davidus, the man ducked and whirled swinging his axe with alarming speed. Jaune shifted sideways and spun around the blow before spinning on his heel to leap over Davidus and slash with both his blades from the air. Davidus blocked one blow and shifted so the other slash gouged a line into his shoulderpad. Jaune scowled, he knew that now he was prioritizing speed over power and that cost him the ability to pierce through armor that may be protecting his foe. Jaune landed and flipped back once to dodge a fist that would have slammed into his face had he been still for an instant longer. Jaune launched into an aura empowered roundhouse that hit Davidus face.

The battle paused for an instant and Jaune's mouth dropped open ever so slightly in shock.

Davidus was smiling as the blood trickled from the split lip on his face, Jaune boot still pressed against his face.

Which meant that Jaune only just now after hitting him with two attacks which would have at least dazed a hunter slightly, had only given this guy a split lip.

Time slowed for an instant.

Jaune realized Davidus was already in motion and his aura empowered fist slammed into Jaune's chest. Jaune first felt something sharp begin to dig into his chest, and he leapt back for all of his wor–

Only to be sent spiraling into a tree and crashing into the trunk.

Jaune fell onto his hands and knees and his chestplate was cracked and dented with the indentation of a fist in the very middle. Bending inwards to begin to slice into his chest. Jaune gulped and swore. This guy was not a joke. Even Ozpin would have trouble taking him down. Not so much dealing blows and dodging strikes – Jaune knew Ozpin was vastly superior to his meager skills when it came to combat – but rather dealing a blow that COULD bring Davidus down. Davidus was a tank, and was faster than any normal fighter who prioritized defense, in no small part due to his aura. Not to mention he was probably a fully licensed hunter with the power to back it up.

Jaune may even have use his actual semblance.

Not that he wanted to, his control was meager at best and he himself had only just discovered it right before he had gone to Beacon. He hadn't even told Ozpin about it. Most of his aura problems were because he hadn't been comfortable with his semblance yet. The problems stemming from the fact that his body wasn't used to using it yet and that erratically affected his control, which was leagues better when he hadn't known. Jaune took a deep breath and his aura flared around him.

No. Not yet. He didn't need to use it just yet.

He might be able to do this.

Weiss paced agitatedly as she kept glancing back at where they had left Jaune. She knew she shouldn't be worried, Jaune was the strongest student of their year and if Arthur was any indication, his "family" wasn't all that strong. But the choking sensation of bloodlust that was suffocating her when Jaune shot to his feet was almost overpowering. Then, against all logic and some twisted sense of familial obligation, he hopped out of the convoy and waited for the foe to get close.

She heard a faint tapping from the front of the truck and spun drawing her rapier. Only to see Arthur standing at the front of the truck they were on, grinning.

"I didn't know Davidus worked so fast." He drawled.

Weiss scowled, "Jaune will be fine."

Arthur chuckled, "I doubt it. Davidus taught everything I know."

Weiss laughed, "Then Jaune will be fine."

Arthur smirked, "When I started training to be a hunter I didn't know anything, I have only been trained to be a hunter for short time. Davidus is a ruthless teacher and very nearly killed me on multiple occasions; that is why I am at the level I am now. Jaune will either be dragged back or die, that is how Davidus operates. I supposed that captaincy of the team now goes to me, doesn't it?"

Weiss paled.

Arthur already had a firm grasp of techniques that should have placed him at a first year Beacon student. If he wasn't bluffing, then his teacher – this Davidus character – was a monster through and through. And on the copy of the mission scroll, Jaune hadn't already planned for what would happen if he was suddenly indisposed!

She whipped out her scroll and began to check Jaune's terms of acceptance (he had sent a copy to all members of the team, just in case they had wanted to go over it with him, Ren usually handled that) that had been made and when she got to the end she almost laughed at what he had wrote.

"When we deliver the shipment to the location and bring the mission accomplished letter to Beacon, should I be otherwise occupied, I delegate group captaincy to Weiss Schnee.

P.S. Weiss, I did plan for this."

Jaune yelled in pain as his body creaked under another one of Daividus' punches. Jaune pushed past the pain and smashed his elbow into Daividus' solar plexus hoping to at least make Davidus stumble back just a bit. He had only done it on a couple of occasions and frankly Jaune had been thrown about more that laundry in a washing machine. He shifted to the side and blocked a heavy overhand swing that forced him to his knees. Davidus smiled darkly down at him as his purple aura pulsed more brightly and he pushed harder.

Jaune rolled out of the lock with a gasp of pain and clambered to a knee breathing heavily. He swiped irritably at the blood dripping out of his mouth and winced as the cuts on his body burned uncomfortably. Compared to Davidus – who only had a long gash across his chest and a few bruises – Jaune looked like he was run over by a bus.

Twice.

He felt bruised over every in of his skin, his chest had two ragged gashes that were streaming blood and he probably fractured and cracked a few bones. His aura was burning overtime to fix his wounds, he could already feel his skin on his chest reknitting itself back together. His bones were slower but definitely sealing back up and his bruises were slowly fading. Nevertheless, Jaune knew.

It couldn't keep going on like this.

Davidus was just too strong, just too fast. Sure he was using a lot of aura but so was Jaune. There was too much force behind Davidus' strikes. Jaune stood up and used his swords as a crutch to get up. Jaune pulled his swords out of the ground and stood tall, a rueful smirk playing on his lips. He slashed at the straps of his armor and cracked his neck from side to side as they fell to the ground with a small 'clank'. He was only left with his weapon harness as he slipped his knights sword into the white sheath on his back and slipped his oversword into the respective straps on his harness before setting himself into a CQC stance.

"Damn..." he sighed, "I was hoping to save this little trick for the next time I fought Dad, but I guess I just can't beat you without it."

Aura burst to life around him, whipping around and slowly crawling up his torso as if he was being consumed by fire, his eyes flickered white and blazed. The forest lit up as his white aura danced between the trees, all circling him. He closed his eyes as the white aura fully cloaked his body and rose to a fever pitch as it all flowed back into him. A high-pitched keening echoed from the spot and exploded from the area, cracking the ground.

"Prepare yourself, Davidus, I am about to cut loose." Jaune voiced echoed from the dust cloud hanging over the epicenter of the explosion.

It was utterly bloodthirsty or void of emotion, somehow a strange mix.

Davidus couldn't repress a shiver.

Suddenly a blow crashed into Davidus' jaw, simultaneously cracking it and sending him crashing into a tree. Before Davidus could even rebound a full two inches off the wood, he was blasted through the tree and crashed into another tree with enough force to topple the tree. Davidus collapsed on the ground and spat a spurt of blood onto the ground. He coughed and looked up to see a flash of white and the figure who stood in front of him.

A figure made of crystals.

It looked as if someone had fused clear crystals or diamond outlined in white and smoothed them down to fit the contours of Jaune's body and covered him in white sigils. Black jagged marks ran down his chest fitting the scars from his past and marking him forever as Jaune Arc. Platinum and silver hair whipped around his face by the sheer density of the tempest of aura surrounding him. He was clothed in jeans as he had untied it and tied it around his waist. Two slits of blue glared down at him, pinning him with their force. Suddenly, he was bashed under the chin into the air.

"A-a-an uppercut?" Davidus rasped, "From that height? Impossible! He kicked me that hard and with that much flexibility?"

He activated his aura and flipped only to see a fist crash into his face and abdomen. Suddenly there were bows raining upon his aura blasting it apart with more force than was possible. He aura faltered and shattered and Davidus was on the receiving end of the blows, each one blasting into his body with the power of a behemoth. Davidus felt the blow slam him downward into the ground hard enough to dent it. His body was screaming in protest and when Jaune landed on him. He was barely conscious enough to think.

He was kicked away and slumped against the tree, his tattered aura flickering around him. Jaune walked towards him with slow deliberate steps. He stood up and flared his aura, which crackled and flickered brightly surrounding him. He threw a chop with his axe that would have decapitated Jaune, but Jaune was already in motion. Jaune caught the axe just below the sharp bit and stopped it dead. With a twist of his wrist and creak and squeal of tearing metal, Jaune ripped the bladed end of the axe straight off and hurled it at Davidus with the force of a cannon. Davidus yelled in pain as the shard of metal pierce just above his heart – punching though his aura - and he crashed back into the fallen tree.

"Listen to me well." Jaune's echoing voice had more than an undercurrent of venom, "I am NOT a part of your family. I. NEVER. WILL. BE."

There was a beat of tense silence.

He laughed.

Davidus laughed, "You don't have a choice boy. Maybe if you hadn't found this semblance…but now it is imperative, now I see why they are so desperate."

Jaune scowled. "Tell me."

"You are the last of the firstborn main branch. They are the only ones with this ability of crystallization. And with your father dead, you are the last of the firstborns."

Jaune blinked, "What?"

Davidus smirked, "You fool, learn you family heritage, of course that would be admitting—"

A diamond fist crashed against Davidus' face and he was lost to oblivion.

Jaune looked down at his defeated opponent for a moment before he sighed and the transformation receded.

Then Jaune sat heavily back gasping as white lightning flashed around him and he hissed in pain feeling his previous wounds close up and heal forcibly.

"Goddamn backlash…" He rasped heavily, "Hurts like hell when my aura rebounds and forcibly heals my wounds."

Jaune sat there for a minute and survey the forest for the main path. He ripped of Davidus' armguards that were made of the black metal, Jaune had hammered them a fair amount and they weren't even scratched. They could come in handy later. He walked towards it and let out a long sigh as he stretched and tried to rid his body of the various kinks. With a small resigned huff he looked towards the broken moon and hope he could catch up to the convoy on foot. He noticed the dusty cloak that was Davidus' and picked it up. A small pulse of aura later and the cloak was clean and resized, slightly dense with the leftover white aura going through it.

Jaune hadn't known insta-laundry clothing-fit abilities could come in handy, but whatever, he had it so he would use it.

He fastened the cloak around his neck when a metallic gleam caught his eye.

Davidus' bike was still there.

Davidus would be fine trekking back to a hospital on foot.

The keys were in the ignition.

Jaune smiled.

Weiss was still pacing agitatedly at the last car of the convoy. It had been an hour and Jaune still hadn't shown up. She wasn't worried.

Not at all.

Barely a little.

Somewhat.

She started minutely when she heard the sound of an engine that wasn't part of the convoys. She whirled and saw a man on a bike quickly gaining on the convoy and his hood drawn over his face. Weiss equipped Myrtenaster on a red dust capsule. If he had hurt Jaune, she would skewer and fry him like a bug on a stick and go retrieve her leader. Arthur kept his red sword sheathed and grinned at the cloaked person on the bike. The person fumbled with the bike and suddenly cables shot out and attached to the side of the truck and pulling the bike up right against it.

The person flipped off the bike and landed ontop of Arthur – knocking him flat against the top of the truck they were on – before flipping off the arrogant boy and landing.

"Gah! What the hell Davidus?!" He growled, rubbing his sore head and chest.

Weiss shifted her sword in front of her ready to defend herself if he attacked.

The figure drew back his hood and Jaune chuckled, "Who the hell said I was Davidus?"

Arthur gaped at Jaune as he turned to face Weiss, "You beat Davidus?"

Jaune shrugged, "Yeah, something wrong?"

Arthur was indignant, "You can't have beat him! He would have pounded you into the dirt!"

Jaune laughed, "Yet somehow I have his bike and his cloak. He was pretty strong, I almost lost, but in the end he couldn't beat me."

Weiss decided to make her opinion known.'

And promptly slapped Jaune across the face

"Ow! What the heck, Weiss? Why did you slap me?" he said, genuinely shocked.

She grabbed his collar, "For being an idiot! Why did you fight that guy alone? We are a team for a reason you know, you dolt! You should let us support you in a fight, no matter if it is a family matter or not! You just you nearly lost just now, what if you had?"

Jaune blinked, and burst out laughing, "Sorry snow angel, I didn't mean to worry you."

"Don't call me that you insolent buffoon!" she said, shaking his collar.

"Sorry snow angel." Jaune said sheepishly.

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?" She screeched.


	16. Chapter 15

It was a tired group that made its way back to Beacon. The ride had been monumentally easier to accomplish yet in the end, the various members were ready to sleep in an actual bed, rather than in a chair (however comfy) on a dustplane. Jaune sighed in ecstasy when he flopped on the bed after his shower, Ren practically collapsed on it almost immediately, Nora bounced on hers once or twice before laying down and Weiss slipped into hers with a considerably more dignity and poise.

"Finally…" Jaune sighed, "I missed you my warm and comfortable friend, you need not cry…I am not going again for some time."

Weiss bit back the chuckle as Ren "mmrrph'ed" in agreement.

"Honestly, Jaune," She scolded lightly, "They are just beds."

Jaune smirked but burrowed under his sheets a bit more, "Don't listen to her, she doesn't understand our love." He mock-whispered to his bed.

Jaune made his way down the halls towards the cafeteria, he was going to go for a quick snack and then maybe ride his newly acquired bike.

God, it felt good just to think about.

Jaune probably didn't notice the slightly psychotic grin that had flitted at the edge of his face and scared off a team in the other direction as fast as they could without making it look like they were running. He looked up after feeling a tap on his shoulder and saw Tucker smirking at velvet who was smiling slightly.

"Jaune you really gotta not grin like that when you're thinking of something funny. You look like you're about to torture someone and laugh while doing so."

Jaune blinked, "I was smiling like that again?"

Velvet nodded.

Jaune sighed, "Dammit."

They chatted as they made their way into the hall and sat down with a plate of food.

"So Jaune, what's got you in such a good mood?" Velvet asked.

Jaune grinned and leaned back, "I stole a bike off a guy trying to drag me away, it's a great bike and I rather like it. I am going to paint it after I get the hang of riding it better. It's heavily modified and got a whole load of special features, I was going to ask Yang if she could recommend any good shops to get it tested."

"Tested for what?" Tucker asked, spearing some bacon with his fork.

"I don't know, tracking devices, explosives…radio jammers."

"Really? Of all the possible threats, you have radio jammers in your top three?"

"Hey, a man's gotta have his music."

Jaune laughed as his bike squealed to a stop, he checked his pocket for motion sickness pills and smiled somewhat ruefully as he felt them rattle around in his pocket. He had been getting better with his motion sickness but honestly he could do with a natural cure that would stay for the rest of his life. He was tired of having to shove several pills in his mouth over the space of two or three hours. He pulled to a stop in front of the shop that Yang had recommended.

"She's a beauty, I'll give her that." The mechanic had said as he had begun working on the bike taking out the tracking system, and what seemed to be a Taser that had mysteriously crackled and flashed with lightning half an hour after being removed and lying innocently on the table.

Jaune had given the bike a paint job, making the sleek bike gilded with the yellow of his hair and adding sliver lines that reminded him of the moon when the light was just right.

Overall, Jaune was pretty happy. He made his way back to Beacon and zoomed into the private garage that was for Ozpin. Ozpin never really liked driving too much so he had a car he rarely used. Jaune pulled off his helmet and shook his hair out as he hung the helmet onto the handlebars. He made his way to the cafeteria to pick up lunch when he – literally – bumped into Izzy.

"Hey!"

"Whoa!"

He came to a stop but she almost fell back as Jaune caught her shoulder and steadied her, "Still running into each other? Come on, Iz, keep your head up."

She flushed but managed a smile in his direction, "Nice to see you too Jaune. Where were you, Weiss was wondering."

Jaune scratched the back of his head and smiled, "Took a bike that I… acquired out for a tune up. It runs a helluva lot better now."

She smiled, "That cool! How did you 'acquire' the bike?"

Jaune frowned, "Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't catch that."

She drew herself up proudly, "I am much more astute than people give me credit for, don't underestimate me!"

Jaune blinked, "You sounded like an anime hero…"

She wilted somewhat, though a mischievous spark danced in her eyes, "Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't catch that."

Jaune laughed as she quoted him.

"Anyway," Jaune chuckled, "I missed our last session, and so would you like to do a small review."

"Sure!" she replied, smiling brightly.

Weiss was firing a dust spell at Nora who pretty much just tanked through the attack and barreled towards her. After seeing Jaune come back looking exhausted and quietly napping throughout the plane ride despite his motion-sickness, she was determined to help him the next time his family – she detested calling them that – decided he needed a reality check. Nora swung at her in a horizontal sweep and Weiss jumped, tucking her legs in and conjuring a glyph to land on that was an inch from being slammed into oblivion my Nora's hammer. Nora was no pushover, her hammer shattered Weiss' glyphs in a single blow and she herself was terrifyingly swift for someone with such a large weapon. Weiss was still practicing with double-layering her glyphs for added effect and wasn't able to properly use them in combat yet.

Ren quietly observed from the sidelines and noted Weiss' increasingly tired and slower movements.

"She won't last too long…" Ren sighed quietly.

His words were proven true as Nora slammed down and made the arena floor shake just enough to make Weiss stumble. Nora shot forward with a burst of pink and swung Magnahild. Ren cringed as Weiss just barely managed to throw up a glyph to soften the impact as she was sent tumbling away. Ren looked at the two's aura bars, Nora was grinning but her aura had dropped deeply into the yellow just a scan bit away from the red zone while Weiss had dipped into the red and struggled to push herself into an upright position.

Ren walked over and hauled her up before steadying her, "That was a great fight."

She scowled, but it was more exhausted more than anything else, "Still lost though."

Ren shook his head in amusement, "You didn't know just how much power Nora could swing with, you countered with your glyphs and when that didn't work; you tried to outmaneuver her. A lot of people would have stubbornly kept pushing and lost that much sooner."

Weiss sighed, he was right but still she felt that if she had just been smarter or hadn't held back as much…

"I agree." came a voice.

Jaune walked out of the door he had been leaning against, "You were at a disadvantage at this fight, but still pulled off a narrow loss. Nora is the strongest person I can think of off the top of my head other than Yang, and they are both scarily fast, the fact you pushed this far is incredible in itself. Be proud Weiss, you did well."

"Yeah!" Nora chimed in cheerily, "I thought I was gonna lose a few times but you really did fantastic!"

Weiss blinked, she almost flushed under all the praise, after living at home with vague encouragement and harsh training for so long, it was…

Odd.

Not unwelcome.

But odd.

She was jolted out of her reverie by a hand landing gently on her shoulder, she looked up to see Jaune smiling down at her, "Get some rest Weiss. I'll spar with Ren for now."

Jaune cartwheeled backwards and swung at Ren who jumped and twisted in mid-air, lashing out with a vicious kick that met the hilt of Jaune's sword. Both he and Ren had uncharacteristic smiles of this-is-fun-and-lets-see-how-notches-we-can-kick-it-up expressions. Jaune drew in close and lashed out with his elbow driving the blow towards Ren's face. Ren responded by raising his arm and catching the blow with the meaty part of his arm just above the elbow. The held there in a lock for the time it took for a heart to beat and jumped away, a crackle of their warring auras sparking between them.

Jaune smiled spinning his swords, "Damn Ren, you're just too good when it comes to combat, I can't get any clean blows in."

Ren grinned and crouched low, "I trained in the martial arts for a very long time, and I can still kick it up, if you can take it."

Jaune eyes gleamed and stopped spinning his swords to hold them in a firm grasp, "Well, well, well… I was about to say the same thing."

Their bodies gleamed with aura and they ran forward, weapons raised. Jaune and Ren crashed together like two tsunami's hitting each other. Jaune had the advantage in pure amount, but Ren was superior in finesse and control. Blows flashed and sent skittering sparks of energy dancing across the floor. Weiss shaded her eyes and Nora cheered and clapped. Jaune swayed away from a spinning roundhouse and slashed only to be blocked by a cross of the Stormflowers. Jaune began to press forward, using his massive reserve of aura to his advantage but Ren managed to knock them apart with a solid kick.

"GO REN! GO JAUNEY!" she shouted.

Ren and Jaune clashed again and again, refusing to give an inch as they waged a miniature war. Ren flipped over Jaune, spraying the ground with bullets, Jaune rolled to the side and spun on his heel, lancing forward with his swords. Ren landed and spun catching the blades and pushing them to the sides before they could cut him. Jaune and Ren were in lock as they tried to force the lock to their advantage. Jaune grinned and threw his head forward and slamming Ren back, who recoiled in pain as he instinctively rolled back while throwing a kick that snapped Jaune's head up. They both stumbled as they regained their footing. Jaune spat a mouthful of blood and grinned wildly, Ren rolled his shoulders and winced as he wiped the blood streaming from his nose.

Suddenly they sheathed their weapons and let their aura drop. Ren and Jaune fist-bumped before casually strolling of the stage. Weiss blinked and Nora clapped enthusiastically.

"Way to go! You and Jauney were awesome! You were like, wah-cha! And kaboom! And –"

Jaune smiled and wiped at the trickle of blood coming from his mouth, "We get it Nora."

Ren smirked, "I gotta say, I didn't see that headbutt coming, which was a good move."

Jaune snorted, "Yeah, even so you still got me in the end."

Weiss knew they could have kept on going, "Why did you two stop?"

Jaune stared at her, "Weiss there is a limit to how many notches we can go up to in a fight, neither of us wanted to be pushed to that point in a simple spar."

"Simple spar?" Weiss echoed.

"You know, Weiss. You held back." Jaune commented.

"I-I didn't!" she shot back.

"Really, you can practically turn into nothing less than a cyclone of elements yet you shot single spells? You have glyphs that repel force and didn't try those? You're soft. You can't hurt your teammates, because you care just that much." He finished. "I assessed your style and I know when you are actually going all out. It's true that after fighting Nora for an extended period of time, you were unable to fight as effectively, but you could have beaten her if you had gone all out from the start."

Nora grabbed Weiss in a hug, lifting her up and spinning her around like a life-sized doll, "Weissy! I knew you loved me!"

"Agh! Stop, I am still recovering from our fight!" Weiss shouted.

After managing to get Nora to let go of Weiss and not snap her ribs. The team trooped into their room for a quick wash and patch up. Jaune wrapped one of the gashes on his arm rather than use a burst of aura to heal it. Ren had managed to fix his nose but occasionally dabbed at it with a handkerchief. Weiss had applied some healing dust to a paste and dabbed at her bruises while Nora applied the same paste to her various injuries.

"You know, I think we should tone it down a bit, people might start to notice the repair signs in the training room and might relate it to us if this keeps up." Jaune muttered flexing.

Ren hmm'ed in agreement.

Weiss blinked and straightened as she thought of something, "Oh, by the way, where were you? We couldn't find you when we went to spar in the training room."

Jaune rotated his arm, "I went to tune the bike and get any dangerous things removed, and it had a built in Taser! Seriously! Anyway after that I ran into Izzy and talked with her and took her down to the library for a quick review since I missed our last tutoring session."

Weiss voice turned a bit frigid at that, "Ah."

{Page Break}

Jaune nightmare shot him out of sleep like being thrown through a glass window. He sat up and winced as his arm throbbed.

He looked around and saw his teammates sleeping peacefully. Jaune cursed mentally and flopped back onto the bed with little grace. His nightmares were getting better! What the hell was up him now?

Because in addition, they also gained severity.

Whereas before, it was the past taunting him. He now had the future to try to scar him too.

Jaune never wanted to be a leader, for all his tactical brilliance and methodical skill. He was scared, scared of responsibility.

Scared of having to hold lives in his hands, and ultimately losing them.

Jaune realized sometime over the weeks he had spent at Beacon that he had come to subconsciously accept his role as team leader. With that, came the tasks of a leader. But deciding what to do, what missions to choose, small things like that.

They didn't matter so much.

When it came to a battle and he was supposed to make sure all of his friends and allies were supposed to make it out of it unscathed and – at the very least – as healthy as possible.

That was a different matter altogether.

Now his nightmares were of him and his friends, all against a never-ending tide of Grimm, and no matter how many were struck down, more took their place. And no matter what direction he went, where his team had been directed to go.

They would die.

No matter what Jaune did, they would fall.

And if that ever happened, Jaune wouldn't be able to take it.

He can't let people who trusted him down.

It cost him everything he knew the first time.

He would never let it happen again.

He glanced at his sleeping teammates and picked up his weapons.

He wasn't going to get anymore sleep anyway.

Might as well train while he had the time.

Jaune glared at the three fingers he had managed to crystalize.

Wasn't discovering your semblance supposed to make it easier to control or something?

Why was he asking, he was anomaly through and through.

Crystalizing parts of his body was insanely difficult, the amount of control and finesse required almost made him punch something in frustration. He knew that if he didn't find a way to only crystalize parts of his body at will. If he kept crystalizing his entire body, the amount of strain would totally exhaust his body and he can't just keep on doing it over and over again. Besides, he knew that if he wanted to stay free, he would have to learn how to control his power.

His family wasn't going to let him sit on his laurels after he spat a few choice words at the lot of them. He focused on keeping control and lashed at another tree. The tree splintered and he drew back.

'Again!' he mentally growled.

He launched a roundhouse that dented the tree halfway into the wood. Jaune grumbled and set up to launch another punch when a voice cut through the night.

"A little late for training isn't it?"

Jaune turned to see Glynda stroll into the clearing. Jaune sighed.

"I have responsibilities..." Jaune said quietly as he glared at the tree, his hang glowing with aura.

He lunged forward and the tree snapped and fell over as the nighttime hush of the forest was shattered as the birds in the tree flew away and into the sky.

He turned to face Glynda, "… I can't stop at any one time and say good enough. Whether it be for me alone of for the entire world, there is a war on the horizon. I can let myself rest, otherwise I will regret it severely. I intend to protect everyone I can."

Glynda sighed and shook her head, "You remind me of your father, he was a lot like you."

Jaune lips quirked up for a second, "Shame, I really would have like to meet him, he gave me the tools to become a hunter, and I intend to make good use of them."

He drew his sword and saw its gleam in the moonlight as he held it tightly in his grasp, "I hope that I can make him proud of me…"

Glynda placed a hand on his shoulder, and Jaune looked up at his surrogate aunt, "If I know anything about your father Jaune… you have, he is proud of who you are and the young man you are growing to become."

Jaune smiled brightly and gazed at the moon, which gleamed brightly as if to affirm her statement.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey Guys, **RWBYBlackFlames** here with the first new chapter of A.A.S.A.A.D.H. I hope you enjoy and I'll see you guys soon for the ending! Sorry about the wait though, my bad! I hope you enjoy!

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><p>As Jaune walked back to his room, he was annoyed.<p>

Annoyed at the fact that his semblance was so hard to control.

Annoyed that his semblance was the reason that Arthur and the rest of the damned Arcs wanted him.

Annoyed that even after all this time, his nightmares would still occur.

Annoyed that there was nothing he could do about it.

He sighed as he neared the room, there really wasn't anything that he could do about it right now.

As he walked by Team WAVE's room as he heard an interesting bit of information from within. Normally, he wouldn't even think about doing something as childish as eavesdropping, but this was the Team room that held his bastard cousin and Villaneuva, a man who like himself, shouldn't be underestimated him, especially with that look in his eyes.

"...Are you sure? The tests say there's only a 50% chance of success if we use _that_!" said what Jaune assumed to be Arthur talking to one of his relatives. There was some yelling on the other side of the scroll that Jaune couldn't quite pick up, but he managed to pick up 'needle', 'serum' and 'Jaune'.

Beautiful, they were going to drug him and attempt to kidnap him. Again. He sighed, before continuing to listen, as a date on when he should expect it wouldn't hurt, and almost like Monty himself heard what he was thinking, he got an answer.

"... Really? We're doing it tomorrow? I'm not sure-" there was more yelling, which this time he was able to pick up.

"Arthur! I have waited long enough for your sorry ass to bring him to me! If you don't get him with this serum, I will be forced to go and take him myself! You are disgracing the family name! You-" at this point, Jaune had heard enough, and leave, with two very interesting bits of information.

One: Arthur was going to try to kidnap him tomorrow, via drugs.

Two: When this fails, the Arthur's father would be arriving, and this was not a man that he was ready for, considering his meager control of his semblance, which was what let him narrowly beat Davidus.

Unfortunately, the Arc's never did let him catch a break, so he would need all the advantages that he could get, including back up.

Eventually he got to his team's room, in which he decided as that no-one in this room was worth waking up at three in the morning, and that it could wait until the morning. Soon enough, he was asleep, after double checking that all the entrances were locked, as he didn't want Arthur to make an early appearance. Tomorrow was going to be an eventful day.

As Jaune woke up, he saw that for a change, he was up first, maybe it was his brain telling him that he should be on guard, or maybe it was a noise outside of the door or something. Either way, it was 6:55, and everyone else was still asleep. Soon, everyone began to wake up.

Weiss was the first one awake, and had quite a shock, seeing that Jaune was the first one awake. Usually, he would be one of the last ones to get up, between Ren and him. Especially since he was already out of his pajamas and in his uniform and had a tired and annoyed look on his face. She tried to ask him what was wrong, or if anyone was happening, but he said that he would wait for the rest of them to wake up.

Nora was next, about two minutes after Weiss, and unfortunately, as a result of Nora being the unstoppable ball of energy she is, Ren was up as well, with both of them surprised with Jaune as well.

"Okay then, now that we're all awake, I have good news, bad news and worse news. Good news is that starting tomorrow, Arthur isn't going to be trying to send me to his damned family. Bad news is that he'll be trying another one of his schemes to get me, involving drugs. Worse news is that when he fails, his father will be showing up to take me himself." said Jaune.

"How exactly do you know this?" asked Weiss.

"I may have overheard it when I was walking by their dorm room around at two last night." said Jaune.

"...Why am I not surprised..." said Weiss.

"In how much trouble do you think we'll be if Arthur's father comes?" asked Ren.

"Considering how terrified Arthur sounded, and knowing my family, as well as the fact that I'm telling you this right now, when normally I would just deal with it myself, I'd say a lot." said Jaune.

"What are we going to do then?" asked Ren.

"I'm going to go notify Ozpin that the head honcho of my cousin's family is going to be paying us a visit. Then we're going to figure out what we're going to do with Arthur. Feel free to tell Team RPBY, I'll give a warning to VILT later about what's going down tomorrow." said Jaune as he started to walk out the door, only to be stopped by Weiss.

"So you're going alone, with no-one else awake to the other side of the campus when you know that Arthur can jump you and abduct you?" asked Weiss in a rather upset tone, only to be returned with a sheepish grin.

"When you put it like that, that does sound rather dumb..." said Jaune.

"I'm coming with then, at least to the office to ensure that nothing happens" said Weiss.

"Let's go then" said Jaune.

"I still have to change out of my pajamas you dolt, give me a minute." said Weiss.

"This is the reason I was planning to go alone, you know" said Jaune as Weiss headed off to change.

Soon enough, they were on their way to the headmaster's office in the tower. When they arrived, Jaune told Weiss to wait outside and make sure no one come near until they were both done and Jaune relayed the information to his father.

"... so you're telling me that one of the most powerful Arcs is going to be arriving to my campus tomorrow, if Arthur doesn't capture you today." said Ozpin with an emotionless voice.

"That's the basics of it, yes." said Jaune.

"Do you have a plan?" asked Ozpin. He had a few plans, but he decided that as Jaune hasn't made a wrong call, yet, that he might as well listen.

"I'm thinking that we have two options. Option 1 is that we, after disabling Arthur and his team, go completely defensive and try to stop my uncle from reaching our doorsteps. Option 2 is that we let Arthur capture me. Neither of these plans are ideal." said Jaune.

"I think we have a third option..." said Ozpin in a calculative tone.

{Page Break}

It was breakfast, and Team JWNR had regrouped, as well as RPBY and VICT making an appearance.

"Okay then, now that we're gathered, I have some news to share." before he continued, he looked around and saw that Team WAVE was on the other side of the cafeteria glaring at them.

"Arthur's going to make another move today, and assuming that he fails, his father is going to show up. At my current level, I'm unable to survive a fight with him without being kidnapped." No one was really surprised at the first part, but was shocked to see that the commander of the Arc's was going to make an appearance.

"How good is your uncle in combat?" asked Ruby

"I haven't seen it myself, but from all the times that I've beaten the information out of that ass, assuming that is would be somewhat true, it's like comparing a Rapier Wasp to a Deathstalker." said Jaune, whilst gesturing towards Arthur.

"Now I have a plan, and this involves all of you." with that, Jaune gestured the group to come closer.

"We're going to wait until Arthur either attacks, or classes end today, and neutralize him. We can capture him, and try to hold him hostage, in an attempt to buy us more time against his father, assuming he gives a rat's ass about his son's well being." said Jaune.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Velvet.

"Not at all. But at this point, it's all we have." said Jaune with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"You don't sound very confident..." said Blake.

"We're doing a lot of assuming. Assuming that Arthur over there isn't listening in. Assuming that we can neutralize him before he can administrate his little drug. Assuming that my uncle cares about Arthur. So forgive me if I'm a little nervous." said Jaune.

"Why are you telling us this?" asked Yang.

"Well, in my plan, I'll need a lot of assistance, from before we reverse the roles to when uncle shows up. If you accept, which you don't have to, you'll have a target on your back for this, I'll have a lot of roles to fill." said Jaune.

"I think that we can all say that we're in if it means helping you, especially if I can give that arrogant ass a beat down." said Tucker, with everyone in favor of kicking Arthur down a couple levels.

"Here's the plan then..."

{Page Break}

Jaune was walking down the corridors, being careful to make sure that Arthur wasn't waiting around a corner to ambush him. He could still kick his ass from here to Mistral without breaking a sweat, but a sneak attack could completely ruin the plan. Speaking of the plan.

"This is Yellow Leader, if everyone in position?" said Jaune as he talked into his walkie talkie. Sure, he could just use his scroll, but he liked to have fun now and then.

"Snow Angel to Yellow Leader, I hate this name and I am in position."

"Sloth One and Two are in position and waiting."

"Red Team is in position"

"Bumblebee is ready to kick some ass."

"Victory is in position"

Jaune smiled as he walked around the corner. Nothing could go wrong...

"I bet you weren't expecting this." said a voice behind him. He whipped around but it was already too late, as by the time he turned around, the needle was already in his arm.

"Son of a bitch... How did you?" asked Jaune as he tried to stay conscious.

"Invisibility is a great semblance, isn't it?" asked Arthur, who only had his head visible at that point.

"Damn you to hell you son of a-" and so Jaune fell, and the world turned black.

"What's wrong, why isn't he moving?" asked Weiss on the walkie talkie, only to get confused murmurs from the rest of them. Suddenly, Jaune whipped around and Weiss saw a needle was in his arm, with Arthur's head visible.

"Damn it, his semblance was invisibility! We've been compromised!" shouted Weiss in the walkie talkie as she ran to Jaune's position.

Weiss was 20 meters from Jaune and Arthur. She thought that it was going to be alright. They would get to Arthur in time and save Jaune from his fate. If only real life was a fairy tale, as when Weiss closed in, Arthur pulled out a smoke bomb, blinding Weiss and the rest of the crew. By the time is had finished, Jaune and Arthur were gone, leaving behind only a used up syringe.

"We... We failed Jauney..." said Nora in a hushed voice, on the verge of crying.

"Damn it! Even with 11 people backing him up, we've still messed up." yelled Tucker in a very mad voice.

"How could this have happened?"

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><p>Hey guys, <strong>RWBYBlackFlames<strong> here and I hope you enjoyed Chapter 16 of _An Alternate Start And A Darker Hero. _Sorry for being super late, it's hard to continue what someone else had started. No worries though, as now this is going to be weekly with a 2K word minimum! I hope yo enjoyed!

Black Flames out!


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